Water Wheel - May/Jun 2006

Abstract

I n the March/April 2006 edition, there are a number of issues that are of interest and I comment as follows on two issues which are interlinked. By its very nature the letter (from AH Charnaud in the March/April 2006 edition of the Water Wheel) only scratches the surface, but there are interesting comments. The floods on the Orange River in 1988 were largely generated in the Northern Cape (note the same occurrence this year on an 18-year cycle) and the 1925 flood was one of the biggest to pass Fluitjieskraal just downstream of Vanderkloof. I know that we used this flood in the analysis of the floods for Gariep Dam in 1963/4. The floods your correspondent refers to all appear to be related to the lower Orange and would include the Vaal. It is worth noting that the Weather Service put out a long-range forecast for the summer rainfall area which predicted average but more probably below average rainfall.

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