The Researchers’ Experiences of the Floods

The floods coincided with the second phase of the fieldwork for this project. As the Eksteenskul area was largely inaccessible for several weeks it was in fact impossible to visit the area until mid-February 2011. David Bek and Zaitun Rosenberg flew into Upington on the 9th of February and gained a first-hand perspective from the air, as the last 60kms of the flight path from Cape Town follows the Orange River. Given the likely driving conditions around the islands, they were delighted to receive a free upgrade to a 4×4 vehicle at the airport! They arrived in Keimoes to see that the main road over the river was officially still closed as the bridge on the Neilersdrift side was still inaccessible. However, it was possible to cross the main Keimoes bridge in order to reach the Ikaia BB and from there gain access to some parts of the Eksteenskuil community. It transpired that the Keimoes bridge had only been open for a matter of hours, having been closed several weeks earlier. The picture to the right shows the state of one of the other bridges, which was not officially open at that point.

In the afternoon, Dave and Zaitun took the 4×4 and went out to assess the flood damage. They started on North Island and were confronted with fallen electricity poles and lines and washed away roads. Some folk were moving around for the first time in weeks as they walked across damaged roads and waded through deep puddles. Damage to vines was evident with watermarks visible some way up vineyard poles and uprooted vines could be seen. All around the swollen river could be heard powering its way through its newly widened channels. The researchers then entered Rooikop Island via the newly built paved road, which had some relatively minor damage but had clearly withstood the flood waters better than the gravel roads on the other islands. Dave parked the vehicle on the muddy sloping entrance to the submerged bridge that leads to the Eksteenskuil Agricultural Co-operative (EAC) offices. This turned out to be a major mistake as it was impossible to gain sufficient traction to drive back onto the main road, instead the vehicle seemed to slide inexorably towards the flood waters every time the accelerator was engaged!! The upside of this embarrassing episode was that a small crowd of Rooikop residents, who had been stranded on the other side of the bridge, had gathered and were amused by what they were witnessing! Fortunately, assistance arrived in the form of commercial farmer who towed the car out with his bakkie. Some members of the crowd waded through the flood waters for a long overdue chat with someone from the outside world. News of the incident soon spread throughout the Eksteenskuil community and Dave and Zaitun were greeted with knowing grins and gentle quips as they met people in the coming days.