Rain and storm for Cpt

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Geoff.D said:
No, but some areas are very low, with poor drainage
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It isn't that.

It is the fact that the COCT, and most other municipalities have pathologically misplaced priorities. Managing stormwater is only something that can happen at a municipal level, and failure to do so will cause floods. If someone paves over their garden, water that would have gone into the ground is now surface water that goes into either the stormwater system or rivers. Managing this isn't difficult.
1) Require all buildings to have rainwater collection systems.
2) Anyone who wants to cover up a piece of exposed dirt or grass with an impermeable covering like paving must to take stormwater into account. They must use permeable systems that allow the water into the ground.
Something like this.

Permeable-Grassblock.jpg

The volume of stormwater would dramatically decrease if they did this properly
 
Gordon_R said:
The Berg River Dam is already above 105% full, so they can't exactly use it for flood control!? Oh, you mean local stream impoundments. Those help with flash floods, but less so with sustained heavy rain.
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Yes, the local dams/stream impoundments. Could not remember what they are called. Saw a steady stream of water flowing on both sides of Eversdal Road this morning flowing towards the Kuilsrivier.
 
konfab said:
It isn't that.

It is the fact that the COCT, and most other municipalities have pathologically misplaced priorities. Managing stormwater is only something that can happen at a municipal level, and failure to do so will cause floods. If someone paves over their garden, water that would have gone into the ground is now surface water that goes into either the stormwater system or rivers. Managing this isn't difficult.
1) Require all buildings to have rainwater collection systems.
2) Anyone who wants to cover up a piece of exposed dirt or grass with an impermeable covering like paving must to take stormwater into account. They must use permeable systems that allow the water into the ground.
Something like this.

Permeable-Grassblock.jpg

The volume of stormwater would dramatically decrease if they did this properly
Click to expand...
Agreed. The amount of water collected by house roofs and paved areas is hardly ever properly evaluated.

Across the road from us is a property totally paved, front and back with no allowance for water to soak away. Hence it all collects and flows to the lowest point which then dams up in the backyard, and takes ages to find its way through neighbouring properties. I watch the situation develop every time it rains. There are all these drains in the area below each downpipe on the houses, and no one can tell me where this water goes. I know the pipes on our property don't lead into the street above ground, so where do they lead? Into the stormwater systems below ground or into the sewers? I have diverted the downflows onto the grass, and hence into the road. Very little makes it to the road most of the time -- soaks away before it gets there, even when it rains heavily.
 
ghaye said:
My Cape history is a bit scratchy but I think there was a "sand" castle before the current one which was closer to the water. But a large part of the Foreshore is reclaimed land.
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Waterkant Street is as its name implies. The Woodstock beach was about 300m from the Castle. The land was reclaimed in the early 1950s. The SANLAM centre (now 24 media) was built in 1959
 
chrisc said:
Waterkant Street is as its name implies. The Woodstock beach was about 300m from the Castle. The land was reclaimed in the early 1950s. The SANLAM centre (now 24 media) was built in 1959
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Erm, Strand Street ran along the beach-front in the CBD. Anyway, this topic was covered in another thread, with historical photos. Nowhere in the CBD is prone to flooding.
 
Geoff.D said:
Agreed. The amount of water collected by house roofs and paved areas is hardly ever properly evaluated.

Across the road from us is a property totally paved, front and back with no allowance for water to soak away. Hence it all collects and flows to the lowest point which then dams up in the backyard, and takes ages to find its way through neighbouring properties. I watch the situation develop every time it rains. There are all these drains in the area below each downpipe on the houses, and no one can tell me where this water goes. I know the pipes on our property don't lead into the street above ground, so where do they lead? Into the stormwater systems below ground or into the sewers? I have diverted the downflows onto the grass, and hence into the road. Very little makes it to the road most of the time -- soaks away before it gets there, even when it rains heavily.
Click to expand...
The previous owners of my house paved the entire back yard, and brilliantly didn't think of any places for the water to go. So the water found a place to go, which was into a cavity next to a servitude.
I tore up the corner of my backyard where the water pooled and planted grass as well as digging a nice big soakaway pit. Have literally zero issues now.
 
Yup, that was our substation early thins morning
Some places in Gordons Bay and Strand have been restored
Somerset West is still without power
 
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