Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (NMBM) finally received much-needed rain, but many of its water storage and distribution sites failed because the storm knocked power out in parts of the region.
“The heavy rain caused a lot of disruption to electrical infrastructure, and in turn, it compromised water production, pumping and conveyance of water,” a metro spokesperson said on Tuesday.
On Sunday, production of about 70% of the water supply to the NMBM was lost, which caused a deficit of water in the system until electricity was restored to the Nooitgedacht pump station at around 22:00 – around eight hours after the disruption.
The Motherwell pump station lost electrical power at around 15:00 on the same day in the Chelsea reservoir zone, hampering water transfer from east to west until electricity was restored on Monday at around 13:00. Still, it had another outage overnight, which was repaired by Tuesday.
In Kariega, the main raw water trunk that conveys water from Groendal dam to Kabah treatment works also failed on Sunday at 07:21 and treatment work at the Kabah plant had to stop. The pipeline is located in and along the river, and access is impossible due to the heavy rain.
Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor, Gary van Niekerk, said external contractors were called in to assist with the restoration of electricity because many of the outages were caused by trees being uprooted by the wind and damaging power lines.
Some roads were waterlogged, such as a section of Seaview Road, where the water was at a 20cm depth. The dip area of Third Avenue in Newton Park was also still closed on Tuesday afternoon due to the Baakens River being in full flow.
Van Niekerk said:
However, residents must use water sparingly because restrictions are still in place.
Suction trucks have also been deployed in informal settlements with no stormwater drainage systems, starting with New Brighton and Motherwell, and motorists are urged to drive carefully on the water-logged roads.
The South African Weather Service issued an orange level 9 warning – an indication that severe impact is expected – for disruptive rain over the south-western parts of the Eastern Cape on Monday, as well as an orange level 6 warning (significant impact) for disruptive rain over the Nelson Mandela Bay, Kouga, Sundays River Valley, Makana, Ndlambe and Ngqushwa municipalities.
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