Overnight rain brings relief to drought-stricken Utrecht residents
The Amajuba District Municipality in northern KZN says recent heavy rains have helped replenish dams in the area - meaning communities will have greater access to water over the festive season.
The area has been caught in the grips of drought for several months - with several dams drying up completely.
Amajuba's Sibonelo Cebehulu says the Balele Dam is now at about 80% capacity, while Ntshingwayo has increased from 41% to over 43%.
ALSO READ: 'KZN not yet out of the drought situation'
He says other dams in the Utrecht area that had gone dry are also filling up following yesterday's storm.
"In the past few months we were suffering with supplying people with two water tankers - which is very expensive for the municipality. But now people will have some water. We were very sad that people were affected by these storms, but unfortunately that's part of nature so there's nothing we can do with that but we assisted those people. But with regards to water - we are comfortable that people will have some water, especially over the festive season," he said.
The municipality says disaster management teams had to respond to some areas following the storm, but officials are happy about the significant relief the rains have brought to local dams.