Overview
- Rescue teams, which ramped up operations Friday morning, used NSRI boats with Rescue SA and surf divers to extract about 40 people from the Kingsway area near the river mouth.
- Kouga Municipality ordered residents in low-lying Gamtoos areas to leave, naming Kingsway Village, Big Fish, Gamtoos Mouth Resort and the Ferry Hotel area, with shelters open at Katrina Felix Hall in Thornhill and Loerie Community Hall.
- The Department of Water and Sanitation reported Kouga Dam at 120.6% with peak outflows of 2,491 cubic metres per second, saying the structure is stable and the spillway can pass far higher flows.
- Officials kept the radial gates shut due to Alkali‑Aggregate Reaction, a concrete condition that can swell and jam moving parts, which could stop the gates from closing and damage storage capacity.
- Flooding has cut key routes and hit farms hard, with the R102 blocked near the Gamtoos, bridges on the R331 submerged, homes underwater and livestock washed away, while other Algoa dams also surged to near or above capacity within 48 hours.