The drift going into Montagu West (Towards Bad Kloof - where the pedestrian bridge used to be before it was taken out by an earlier flood) was flooded over about a half hour ago.
The level is expected to rise as 3 power lines were taken out by the water further upstream. The road to/from Ashton is also closed.

No doubt Bad Kloof will be reshaped and the gabions that we installed at Waterworld will be tested!


Related article:

Montagu 2012 Flood Pics 2012 Montagu Flood

- Montagu 2008 flood
- Flood wreaks havoc on Little Karoo towns

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Hehe, like the style. Maybe we should start a communal waterworld canoe fund?

On a more serious note, it would be a bummer if the waterworld base took off .

For those who have not come across it yet, Kayak by William Nealy is a must read - even if you don't paddle

Below are three pages on 'flood water' - you can view the book online here.
or
buy the book here

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Climb ZA - Administrator

The water level is up and its stopped raining in Montagu (for now).

No reports of damage / DeBos is fine - this is probably because the previous flood widened the river so much.

reports say that the R62 between Montagu and Ladismith and the R60 between Ashton and Swellendam were closed.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Hmmm - I am very curious about whats happened to Waterworld. Maybe Noah's Ark washed up?

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AndyDavies

Will be interesting to see what is left of the base at Waterworld. Although not tied down, I'll bet my money that the gabions are still there (they were buried in about 1 foot deep).

The entrance to Montagu is well flooded - see pics below.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Below are two pics of Montagu taken around 17:00 today.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Hi Justin
Hows the river looking there today, still high. Hope there is no serious damage. Do you by any chance know if the Tradow river is flowing? Me and some kayaking mates would like to do a run there if the water is right.
Thanks
Leon

Hi Leon,
Haven't been out yet but I reckon the level is probably dropping. I saw a few pics of Barrydale flooding and they seemed to have it a lot worse (Barrydale had more rainfall I reckon) - there is probably rainfall happening above Barrydale.

I recommend calling a farm stall in Barrydale to see if you can get any info - Here is one, you can find more on Google.
Country Pumpkin (0)28 572-1019 (the owners name is/was Derek (not sure anymore) tell him you're a climber/kayaker)...

It looks like a cool river to run (quite jealous actually!)
Have fun and takes pictures

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Sweet, looks like we'll have to get going Leon... I'll mail you some Tradouw pics, good class 4 and 5.

One question, are there campsites near the Barrydale or in Montague that are usuable now? Or flooded? Or a cheap backpackers Thanks so much!

Cheers,
Adrian

The road from Ashton to Montagu is currently closed (there is a rumour that they expect to have it open by 12:00 today) - but you will probably want to take the N2, you can also check the river on your way in.

There is a Backpackers in Barrydale
Otherwise DeBos campsite in Montagu

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Great stuff, thanks Justin! Appreciate that, and the links!

If you happen to hear that the road is open, please could you let me know? That'd be fine.

2nd pic. Yeti found in Montagu?

- nope that is the high level mark from the 2003 flood.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

The road (R62) from Ashton to Montagu is open again.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Excellent!! Thanks so much Justin I'll post a photo or two of our trip. Tradouw has some good rapids... have a super weekend.

Have fun Adrian!

I took a walk into Bad Kloof. Lots of water moved through the kloof. Waterworld has seemingly lost most of its base. The gabions we put in have seemingly done some good, but the water is flowing around them and pulling the base away.
Also one of the slabs from the drift has been taken out, which means you can't drive in.

Have a good weekend everyone

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Mother nature 1: Climbers 0

Unfortunately that DOES seem to be the natural line for the water to take, which (if one looks on the bright side) is probably why Waterworld exists in the first place.

Maybe someone should look into building a pontoon

Enjoy Tradouw Adrian. We always seem to paddle it when Montagu is being flooded. As a climber/paddler one feels a bit torn at times like this...

Just got back from a stroll into Bad Kloof.

Unfortunately the base of Waterworld is mostly gone - there is still a fair amount of water coming down the kloof so we should regain some more of the base.
It appears as if all the gabions stayed behind.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

WOW! Justin how is access to places like The Palace and Scoup? am i right in saying Palace is in accessible due to the height of the river?

are we even allowed to go into Badkloof?

thanks for the update.

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If you aren't willing to solve your own problems, how can you expect others to?

I haven't been to either of the two crags... however the Palace itself will fine, just expect to get your feet wet on the walk in at the moment.
The Scoop will also be ok as it does not get the same flow of water that the Bad Kloof gets (much smaller catchment area).

Supertubes and Sloth seemed to be untouched (the last flood dumped a lot of silt at the base of Supertubes).
Yes, you can go into the kloof no problem (we only walked up to Supertubes).

The Pipeline is also fine - check out the big belay ledge below

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Climb ZA - Administrator