Riverbend | 1 May 2025 – Morning Update
There’s something eerily calming about a river that starts listening again.
This morning, the mighty Bloemhof Dam has begun reeling in the beast:
10:00 – Outflow reduced to 3,000 m³/s
12:00 – Down to 2,800 m³/s
14:00 – Further trimmed to 2,600 m³/s
Gauge Plate: 18.760m
Capacity: 115.13%
Area: 25,487.3 ha
Rain: 2mm | Evaporation: 3mm
Meanwhile upstream, Vaal Dam keeps playing nice:
Two more sluices closing today
Current outflow: 1,129 m³/s
Inflow: 783.59 m³/s — a breath, not a roar.
To the keyboard cowboys yelling “It’s too early! More rain is coming!” — we hear you too.
Yes, there is a warning for more severe weather.
We don’t ignore it. We’re not fools.
But we also won’t fold in despair.
We’ve already been soaked, stretched, and shaken.
This river took our fences. It nibbled at our homes.
And it took our patriarch with it — in silence, with dignity.
But it didn’t take our resolve.
It didn’t wash away our humor.
And it sure as hell didn’t touch our spirit.
So go ahead, round three.
We’ve got sandbags full of resilience.
Waders made of backbone.
And if all else fails… a lilo, a staffie, and a braai grid.
To the Vaal Dam team:
We salute the precision.
To the Bloemhof managers:
You’re holding the line like it’s personal.
And to the mighty Vaal herself: We hear you. We see you. But today…
we stay on our feet.
For those who’ve walked this muddy road with us:
We’ve bled together. We’ve packed. We’ve bailed.
And we’ve posted — not just for drama, but so that someday, when people ask
“What happened in the floods of ’25?” —
we’ll just send them to the Riverbend Chronicles.
—
And through it all… one voice is quieter now.
To the man whose story is written in this riverbank…
Your legacy lives here.
Let’s carry on. Let’s clean out. Let’s wait and see.
From the banks of Riverbend — where water recedes, but stories remain.
Photo Credit: Archie Scorgie (Vaalharts)
