High rainfall occurred in the catchment of the Leeuspruit which is a tributary of the Elands river.  (See map) Continuous rainfall over a period of 5 to 7 days resulted in the soil to be saturated and together with the heavy precipitation on the 10/12/2000 caused the extraordinary  run-off in the Elands river. (See rainfall figures) According to evidence several small farm dams could have broken which contributed to the high flood peak, although it was not the main cause of the flood.  

X2H015 Elands River at Lindenau is a river gauging station near the confluence of the Crocodile river and the Elands river. Preliminary indications show that the flood peak on the 11 December 2000 was between 800 - 900 m³/s and represents a height of 4.73m. Pervious floods of this magnitude occurred in 1989 with a flow of 685 m³/s which represented 17 % of the regional maximum flood (RMF).  The river section was calibrated in 1990 to determine this flow. The RMF for this region is calculated to be 3942 m³/s and indicates that the resent flood represent 23% of the RMF. The river section has to be re-surveyed  and calibrated to determine the flow of this flood because of changing  vegetation in the river sections. 

River gauging station approximately 20 km downstream of Waterval Boven.

During flood peak

N4 Road bridge and Instrument tower