The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has warned communities located downstream on the White Volta to move to higher ground as Burkina Faso gets ready to spill water from two dams.
NADMO has launched “Operation ThunderBolt 2020” to prepare the people to manage the effects of the spillage on their communities.
The Bagre and Kompienga Dams in Burkina Faso are scheduled to be spilled between now and Monday 10 August.
Places of greater safety
In a statement, NADMO said the spillage from the dams will affect communities such as Bawku West, Nabdam, Talensi and Pusiga.
“Due to the rapid rise in the water level of the Bagre Dam, the opening of the dam valves may be effected as soon as the level reaches 234.75m and that may happen any day between today 5 August 2020 and Monday 10 August 2020,” the statement said.
Although all the communities are in the Upper East Region, the organisation warned that some areas of the Northern, Savannah and Upper West Regions will also be affected.
The director general of NADMO, Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, who signed the statement, therefore urged people living in these communities to relocate to safe places.
Get ready
“Due to the possible effect of the spillage of the two dams on areas downstream the White Volta, some communities along the river are likely to be affected, as in flooding, and NADMO will want such communities to be on the alert and prepare themselves for the spillage and its impact on them and their activities,” the statement said.
“We urge them to move to higher ground and safe havens in all such affected communities,” he said.
The organisation said it has dispatched rescue officers to the various communities to help save life and property. These rescue officers, the statement said, have also been tasked with preparing “the people in the area and to train them to manage the effect of the spillage on their communities”.
NADMO called on people living in the named communities to co-operate with its officers to make the operation a success.
E A Alanore
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