In readiness for the impending spillage of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), on Thursday set up a camp in the northern region town of Walewale.
NADMO this week received notice from SONABEL authorities in Burkina, managers of Bagre Dam that with the rising trend of water volume in the dam compared with same period last year; it has become imperative to do the spillage of the dam earlier than scheduled.
With the spillage mark of 235 meters, records available to A1Radioonline.com indicates the volume of water in the dam as at Wednesday August 22 was 233.88 meters. And with the notice from SONABEL, the spillage will be done between 23rd and 30th August.
Headed by Deputy Director-General of NADMO in charge of operations, Abu Ramadan, Operations Thunderbolt will also set up another camp at Zebilla in the Upper East Region.
Paul Wooma, Deputy NADMO Coordinator in charge of operations in the Upper East Region who spoke to A1 NEWS after the operational camp was set up Thursday said the operation team has adequate logistics to deal with any emergency that may arise as a result of the impending spillage.
“They have come with a lot of equipment to deal with the impending spillage of the Bagre Dam and any emergency that might occur within the period of their stay. They have in their stock, two speedboats that can travel fast in deep waters; within 10 minutes you can achieve result and these speedboats will be patrolling the waters where there are flood waters, they will be patrolling and giving warnings and doing evacuations should there be any drowning case. They also have one fibre boat that conveys people from shallow waters and even farm produce.” Mr. Wooma said.
Also in stock according to him, are chainsaw machines to deal with falling trees or structures, umping machines for draining water and other forms of sophisticated tools for emergency operations.
Meanwhile, a similar camp is expected to be set up in Zebilla in Upper East Region for the same purpose.
The recent rains in the Upper East Region have already destroyed large acres of farm fields in some districts and the impending spillage of the Bagre Dam is expected to worsen the situation especially along the Black and White Volta rivers.
Areas likely to be heavily affected by the spillage are Bawku West, Bawku Municipality, Garu, Tempane, Talensi and parts of Builsa and Kassena-Nankana.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1fm|Ghana|William Nlanjerbor JALULAH
