The lifeblood of the Karoo

Rivers play an important role in sustaining agriculture, leisure and life in general in the Karoo. Robert  Redford would sum it up by saying,  “A River ran through it”  and so it is with all the rivers of the Karoo. The Groot Rivier runs through the Little Karoo like a vein supplying life giving water to the region. With its source deep into the interior of the Great Karoo North of Laingsberg, the Groot Rivier is fed by the Buffels river and some smaller tributaries before arriving at the Floriskraal Dam. Below the dam the river becomes the Groot Rivier. It was the rivers forming the source of the Groot Rivier which gave rise to the devastating flood of 23 January 1981. On the day the Buffels River, the Wilgehout River and the Baviaans River all received an abnormal amount of rain simultaneously which is unusual for the area. The three rivers converge a few kilometers north of Laingsberg resulting in devastation on that day. The rising wall of water was too much for the river system to handle and the river burst its banks on the outskirts of Laingsberg flooding the town to an unpresedented degree. The flood waters took with it an old age home and many private houses. The devastation was severe along with many drownings that day. A lucky pensioner along with a few others were swept 20km downstream in the raging flood waters to be deposited onto the banks of the Floriskraal dam. Many others weren’t that lucky and perished. Some bodies were recovered at Mosselbay some 200km downstream. Standing in the dry streets of a drought stricken Laignsburg today, it seems unbelievable to reflect on the floodwater mark and the events of that fateful day.

The Groot Rivier flood also put an end to the railway service to Ladismith as a result of the flood. The train bridge at the Buffelsdrift Dam outside Ladismith was washed away and was never rebuilt putting an end to an era of rail transport through the Little Karoo.

The Groot Rivier is joined by the Gamka River South of Van Wyksdorp. The Gamkapoort Dam on the Gamka River is an important water catchment dam for the Karoo and supplies water to Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn. The two rivers join to  form the Gourits River which passes beneath the N2 on its way t the sea at Gouritsmond west of Mosselbay.