Adam Hartman
4 September 2008
SEVERAL sections of the road between Swakopmund and Henties Bay were closed yesterday afternoon after being flooded by seawater.
Rough seas have been reported off the Namibian coast since the weekend - believed to be the tail end of severe storms off Cape Town.
About 50 km north of Swakopmund, large dams of seawater are seen on either side of the road, while water is flowing across the road about ten metres wide.
A one-kilometre stretch of road, considered as unstable, was closed.
According to the regional manager of the Roads Authority, Victor /Uiseb, the seawater extends about two kilometres inland, forcing the company to build an eight-kilometre detour.
He told The Namibian that there have been similar instances in the past, "but no so bad".
He said the water was very close to the road shoulders for about a kilometre, and that could be a danger to motorists.
"If you have to come off the road for some or other reason, you'll be in deep trouble," he said, indicating that some areas were up to half a metre deep.
He said the water also made the road's salt surface soft and brittle.
"We're going to have to close the road, and advise motorists to take the detour.
There may be some 'chancers' who would want to travel the flooded road, but they'll be doing it at their own risk," he said.
He said the detour could be used for several weeks, until the water subsided and made it possible to repair the road.
/Uiseb said another detour was being built at Mile 108, where seawater flowed over the main road, as well as over an old detour built a couple of years ago under similar circumstances.
He said a new detour was built about a kilometre further inland on Monday, just to be flooded again the same evening.
"We are now busy with a second new detour - also about eight kilometres around - because the water there flowed inland about two to three kilometres," he said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
