Welcome winter rains have fallen over large parts of the Eastern Cape in the past 24 hours - including in the catchment areas of Nelson Mandela Bay's main supply dams.
Garth Sampson at the PE Branch of the SA Weather Service reports that up to 40 mm were measured in parts of Nelson Mandela Bay.
"We had some nice rainfall overnight with 27 mm measured at the PE airport, 40 mm at Walmer Heights and 37 mm at 3rd Avenue dip in Newton Park," said Sampson.
He said, however, that the Langkloof in the catchment areas of Nelson Mandela Bay's main supply dams did not enjoy particularly good figures. "Only 5mm was measured at Joubertina and 17 mm at Kareedouw. Patensie did a little bit better at 19 mm while the Kouga Dam only received 10 mm."
According to figures released by the Municipality on Monday, the combined capacity of Nelson Mandela Bay's main supply dams currently stands at 44.81%.
Elsewhere along the coast, George received 24 mm and Plettenberg Bay 17.
Port Alfred received a substantial 51.8 mm, yet East London just a little more than 100 km away, did not even receive a full millimetre of rain.
Inland, Makhanda and Cradock each received 10 mm and Graaff-Reinet and Addo both measured 19 mm.
Looking ahead, Sampson said a couple of drops here and there can be expected toward the weekend but nothing noteworthy for the next seven days.
