Floods and Damages

[Flutterby]

Skukuza Deck



Lower Sabie, low-level bridge



High level bridge near Skukuza







H4-1 – Tar pulled off the road

[Flutterby]

Taken near Letaba (Pic posted by Shutterbug)



Letaba

[Flutterby]

Sable Dam (Courtesy of Krugerpark.com on Facebook)

[Flutterby]

Tshokwane (Pic taken by Peter John Perks)

[Bushcraft]

Herewith photo's of the rain on Wednesday morning 18th Jan 2012 at about 7h45 to 8h00. Think we got out at Phabeni just in time - we weren't aware of anything except that gravel roads south of Skukuza were closed due to the rain??

[Flutterby]

Dear All,

Having been closely in contact with the Kruger team and having been involved in / effected by the 2000 floods of 7 and 24 February 2000, there are a couple of interesting characteristics of the two disasters:

1. 2000 floods generally far more severe especially the 7 February one which hit the southern portion very hard.
2. I would say that this 18 January 2012 flood was worse than the 24 February 2000 one which hit the north and central areas quite hard.
3. My take on bridge damage and reports is that 2012 flood resulted in higher levels (than possibly ever recorded before) in following rivers:
3.1 Nwaswitsontso (catchment in Manyeleti area west of Orpen) was incredibly high, completely engulfing Tshokwane and reaching higher levels in Talamati than in 2000.
3.2 Timbavati (catchment near Klaserie and theefore) severely affected by deluge that hit Hoedspruit and surroundings and also reached very high levels in the Park, flooding the tar road between Orpen and Satara and engulfing the entire Tamboti Camp (40 tents) which has been extensively damaged.
3.3 Olifants (due to Blyde, Timbavati, Selati and other swollen tributaries) also reached highest levels recorded (in my view in Park history, but stand to be corrected) for the first time ever flooding the high level bridge on the tar road between Satara and Letaba. Extensive damage to Balule.
3.4 Nwaswitshaka (catchment Pretoriuskop and south thereof) also reached higher levels than in 2000 and caused extensive damage to high level bridge on road between Kruger Gate and Skukuza.
3.5 There could be others that I am not aware of and certainly those that come to mind would be Nhlanganini (near Letaba), Sand (south), Biyamiti (south) and others.
4. Rivers that did not reach 2000 flood levels are, Sabie, Crocodile, Letaba and of course those that did not come down in flood in north such as Shingwedzi, Luvhuvhu and Limpopo.

Thanks to all for contributing!

Kind regards.

JOEP STEVENS

[Sprocky]

Photos of Sable Hide that were emailed to me...

[Richprins]

These from Jabula Ntsiri Lodge Jan 18 (Timbavati River):





It appears there is a vehicle floating past in the background.




And a tractor:




And spot the game-viewing vehicle!!




(Pics courtesy of Fanta)

[Lisbeth]

All roads, except the following, are open:

S25 (From S26 to S139, Biyamiti Low Level Bridge inaccessible), S33, S84, Balule Low Level Bridge (detour via S89 and S90) (Balule Bridge is expected to reopen by 30 September 2012), H1-5 (From S91 to H8) (detour via S91, S92 & H8 – detour 17km of which 12km is gravel road) (Breach on H1-5 near N’wamanzi is expected to reopen by 30 September 2012).

Gates: All are open

[harrys]

Thanks Lis