City of Cape Town gets greenlight to construct emergency spillway on dam wall
The Department of Water and Sanitation has given the City of Cape Town permission to construct an emergency spillway on a farm dam wall, to prevent its collapse.
Three dams burst leading to major flooding in the Riverlands area that caused severe property and infrastructure damage last week.
Hundreds of people are in need of humanitarian assistance, two have been reported missing.
Now, the department says the fourth and remaining farm dam near Malmesbury, is on the verge of collapse.
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Water and Sanitation's Mandla Mathebula says investigations into the reasons behind the wall failures are currently underway.
"The three failed dams did not have sufficient spillways and had filled beyond the safe level, resulting in overtopping due to high rainfall and associated run off, causing them to fail in series.
"The fourth dam, which is the highest dam in the valley, also has no spillway, and it has been discovered that it has some structural damage. The dams are owned by the Western Cape Provincial Government and serve the local farmers. "
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