NSRI East London were busy from the early morning on Friday 10 June 2011, assisting at flooding on the Nahoon River where water overflowed over the top of the Dam wall causing water levels to rise considerably putting some houses at risk of flooding, barges on the river, at risk of being swept away and some risk to property, persons, animals.
Swift action saw a joint emergency services response where barges along the lower reaches of the lagoon were secured while emergency services observed rising water levels which have caused no major damage, no injuries and no loss of life but some threat to property.
A barge owner was rescued after his barge was briefly swept away by rapid flowing water but the incident was minor and dealt with swiftly before any incident occurred.
Geoff McGregor, NSRI East London station commander, said that later in the afternoon at around 14h30 attention was diverted to the Buffalo River where water began to breach the lip of the Buffalo River Dam wall and the situation was monitored. Some yachts were moved or secured by our NSRI volunteers to prevent any loss to property and all situations were observed by the emergency services and the situation was well under control with no major incident. By last light the river levels were subsiding.
