GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Intense rainfall has led to significant flooding in the Wilderness Section of the Garden Route National Park, specifically at the Ebb & Flow camp site.
JP Louw, SANParks head of communications, said initial assessments reveal that more than 200 mm of rain fell within a span of six hours, coinciding with a spring high tide .
“The Ebb and Flow rest camp is currently closed and mop up operations are underway. All the hiking trails including the trails at Ebb and Flow, Swartvlei, Woodville Big Tree, Farleigh and Goudveld - Outeniqua hiking trail and Circles in the Forest are closed until further notice.”
The rain has subsided and the water is flowing strongly from the Touw River mouth directly into the sea.
“South African National Parks (SANParks) confirms that all its clients who were camping were safely evacuated to the forest cabins. Park management is evaluating potential damage to infrastructure and tourism facilities.”
Louw added that in preparation of the weather warnings, SANParks standby personnel have been physically onsite since 02:00.
“There was an unprecedented increase in the water level due to the amount of rain that fell within a few hours of the early morning. The excavator was on site at the Touw River Mouth, with the operator on standby for the breaching of the mouth, since Friday, 5 April.”
He said their team physically monitored the water levels at different sites and monitored the automated weather station alerts in the catchments throughout the past three days.
“This morning at around 04:00 the water level at Pirates Creek was at 1.33 mm. The minimum ecological benchmark according to the management plan of the park to breach the mouth, is 2 mm to 2.4 mm.”
He said the weather station indicators in the catchment, the Touw River Mouth was mechanically breached at 06:20 this morning.
The park is currently experiencing power cuts and their technical team together with the municipality are working on resolving the matter.
All visitors with planned trips to the Ebb and Flow rest camp have been communicated to, and the public will be updated when the camp and activities will be reopened.
The Half-collard Kingfisher Trail is also closed to the public.
The rain has subsided and the water is flowing strongly from the Touw River mouth directly into the sea.
Staff busy with mopping up operations. ‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
