Bagre, Kompienga dams spillage starts today
The annual opening of the floodgates of the Bagre and Kompienga dams in Burkina Faso is set to commence today.
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This action follows the rapid rising of the upstream level of the two dams in Burkina Faso.
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) announced this following an alert issued by SONABEL, the agency that manages the Bagre and Kompienga dams, last Friday.
The spillage is part of a controlled operation aimed at preventing any potential damage to the dams’ infrastructure.
However, residents in communities downstream the White and Black Volta have been advised to stay alert and prepare for potential flooding.
As of last Friday, the water level of the Bagre dam was 234.23 metres with a rising rate of 89.70 per cent.
Also, the level of water in the Kompienga dam has gone up to 177.59 metres with a rising rate of 76.64 per cent.
Move to higher grounds
The North East Regional Director of NADMO, Alhassan John Kweku, told the Daily Graphic that the organisation had intensified sensitisation in lowland areas to the potential risk and necessary precautions to be taken.
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He indicated that NADMO and its relevant stakeholders were on a high alert to mitigate the impact of the impending spillage.
However, he advised residents of lowland areas to take precautionary measures to avoid being adversely affected by the spillage by relocating to higher grounds.
Background
The spillage of the dams has become an annual ritual with communities along the White and Black Volta in the Northern, North East, Upper East and Savannah regions at the receiving end.
For the past years, many lives have been lost while large tracts of farmlands and properties running into millions of Ghana cedis have been destroyed by the floods.
Writer's email: mohammed.fugu@ graphic.com.gh