/ 29 January 2010

Vaal Dam flooding causes road closures

Two roads near the Vaal Dam were closed after it burst its banks on Friday, an official said.

Upper Vaal area manager Marinus de Wilde said a bridge over the Klip River was flooded.

“Where the Klip River joins the Vaal River, the Vaal River is pushing back into the Klip River stream up,” said De Wilde.

Generaal Hertzog and Golf roads around the bridge on the Vereeniging side had to be closed due to flooding, he said.

“The bridge is totally under water and you can’t even see the bridge.”

He said 14 sluice gates were still open at the Vaal Dam but if no rain fell in the next 24 hours some of the gates would be closed again.

“Most probably we are going to start closing the gates today [Friday] or tomorrow [Saturday].”

The Vaal Dam was 109% full on Thursday afternoon — the highest since 1997. — Sapa