The high water table and homes that were built in a natural waterway saw large scale damage occur in St Francis Bay over the weekend, when a small dam situated behind the Santareme development burst its banks, sending a torrent of water through the village of St Francis Bay.
What is of more concern is that there is second, bigger dam in the sand dunes that could also burst its banks and would cause much more damage than what has already taken place.
Experts have been warning for years that the dunes form a natural coffer dam and periodic flooding will take place. Long time locals of St Francis Bay remember rivers of water flowing from the dunes in years gone by.
The Kouga Municipality were hard at work fixing craters in the road yesterday and will make a full assessment of the damage as well as the future risk the dam poses, today.
Opponents of the construction of a nuclear power plant in the sand dunes of Thyspunt argue that the same disaster can occur should plans to construct the power plant go ahead.
Debris flow is a very real risk and the rains the area has received over the past two years prove that the Impact Studies were flawed when they described the flooding in 2006 as a “once in 200 years occurance”.