End of Irina – an Editorial

With the inability of Tropical Cyclone Irina to permanently open St Lucia Estuary to the Indian Ocean, many St Lucians must be left wondering if their one-time natural blue-water estuary will ever return.

After some research St Lucia News can assure you that all is not lost. We are, after all, coming out of the “dry end” of our climatic cycle and it will be at least another four years before we see rainfall levels last seen six or seven years ago. Moreover, it is during the “wet end” of this cycle, when the Kalahari and South Indian High Pressure Systems are at their weakest, that tropical cyclones too have a much greater effect on our coastline.

Unfortunately, shortly after the last “wet end” of the climatic cycle, when many KZN beaches were washed away and the entire eastern side of Southern Africa experienced the highest rainfall figures in a decade, the then new Wetland Park Authority apparently chose to separate, once and for all, the Umfolozi River Mouth from the estuary, thereby limiting the power of the estuary to rejoin the sea (see photographs below showing the use of earthmoving equipment brought in for just this purpose). 

The authority, according to their press releases, appears to have made a u-turn and now joins all other stakeholders in a desire to allow nature to retake its course. St Lucia News joins all others in hoping that this is not a case of “too little, too late”.

The only stumbling blocks from here on out appear to be: 1) the increased use of rivers feeding the estuarine system for irrigation in areas previously not used for agriculture, and 2) the more immediate problem of, to our surprise upon investigation, the outflowing of water via the North Channel into the lowest course of the Umfolozi River, as opposed to the intention of having the channel feed the estuary.

Umfolozi River on left, estuary on right