Welcome relief for Namibia

After a few days of heavy and intense rainfalls over vast areas of Namibia, many of the country’s larger rivers have been flowing quite strongly, as far as the Kuiseb and Hoanib rivers in the Namib Desert. Most of the major dams have taken large volumes of water and their levels have increased quite markedly. The Von Bach Dam now stands are just over 40% compared to 16% on Saturday of last week and if Naute Dam continues to take water, currently at 93%, her sluices will be opened for a second time this season. Hardap Dam has taken almost 200 million cubic metres of water and now holds around 66%. Predictions for rain over the next two weeks, until at least 2 March, remain very positive with falls over the central and northern areas of the country to average from 5 to 50mm and higher. Following that, the tropical storm which is just off the South African coastline in the Mozambique Channel may have an impact on the rainfall in the coming weeks. While it is yet unsure how it will develop, it may take up moisture over the sub-continent for around two weeks after which, it generally returns it in the form of massive falls over the entire region, as far north as Zimbabwe and northern Angola. So while it may ‘dry up’ for a short while, it will appear as though La Nina has a firm grip on Namibia.