SANParks Senior Section Ranger for the Wilderness Section of the Garden Route National Park (GRNP), Nellie Grootendorst, says on Wednesday morning, a weather warning from the Eden District Municipality had predicted 50mm of rain for Tuesday and Wednesday.
‘On Wednesday morning, we noticed that rainfall was around the 50mm mark’ says Grootendorst. ‘This prompted our team of rangers to keep checking the measuring plate every 30 minutes.’
When it reached the 2 meter mark, at about 12:45pm, the water was pushed and ran over to sea. ‘If the water had failed to do this, SANParks was ready to use the bulldozer.’
Artificial breaching of the sandbars at the Touw River and Swartriver estuary mouths is done primarily to prevent flooding of neighbouring properties along the River. The open/ closed conditions of the estuary are often cited as one of several environmental factors to influence the abundance of marine fish in estuaries.
The set standards for breaching are 2 meters above mean sea level (amsl) for Swartvlei and between 2,1 and 2,4 meters for the Touw River.
Boilerplate:
The Wilderness system is fed by 3 rivers, the Touw River, the Duiwe River and Langvlei Spruit.
Issued by : SANParks via The George Herald
