A team of engineers and aerial surveyors from the Volta River Authority have been dispatched to parts of the North East and Upper East Regions to conduct an assessment of the volume of water coming from the Bagre dam.
The purpose of the team is to assist the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) with technical data from Bagre dam and the Ghana Meteorological Agency to know the exact areas that are affected by the floods as well as take daily readings from gauges mounted along the White Volta to know the amount of water received from the spillage of the dam.
Days of torrential rains coupled with spillage from the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso led to raging floods that have killed several people and displaced hundreds of residents.
Many farmers are still in grim shock as the water has submerged their farms, destroying their livelihoods.
More than 50 communities in all six (6) districts of the North East Region have been affected by the floods.
Some of the affected communities are Yaroyiri, Namangu, Kukua, Janga, Kpasinkpe, Bunkpurugu, Langbinsi, Sakogu, Gbintiri among others.
UNICEF, World Vision and Plan International, together with NADMO officials in the North East Region are also on the ground to identify people directly affected by the floods, according to the North East Regional Minister, Solomon Boar.
The Engineers have since attributed the massive floods to excessive water spilt by Burkinabe officials and the continued torrential rains that have hit the region this year.
According to their observations, the human activities along the banks of the river have led to the erosion of the river bed; thereby lowering the carrying capacity of the river.
The team is using multiple formats to study water levels daily, including aerial photography, mounting of gauges along the White Volta as well as the use of helicopters to make assessments.
Engineer Philip Tettey Padi, Generation Planning Engineer and Water Resource Management of the Volta River Authority who is leading the team, made this known when the VRA handed over a quantity of food items valued at over GHS200,000 meant for flood victims in the North East Region to NADMO on Wednesday.
The donations follow a distress call by NADMO for assistance as the organisation is currently overwhelmed.
“Our observation is been such that the volumes from Bagre this year compared to previous years have been very high and that is why the flooded areas are high. What compounds the problem is when the spillage coincides with a heavy downpour. So, it is not only the spillage however when the spillage coincides with heavy downpour we have devastating flooding occurring in the Northern Region.”
According to the surveyors, parts of Northern Ghana have a relatively flat topography and therefore do not allow ready flow of water when it rains.
This, coupled with human activity close to river banks, could be a major factor that results in flooding, the surveyors said.
“We have also realised that a lot of human activities along the White Volta have reduced the carrying capacity of the river. It is filled with a lot of silt. It is heavily silted so it has reduced the amount of volume that is available for the water to flow. So, if we have a small amount of water in the rivers then they overflow.”
“And then because the White Volta is also full the smaller tributaries that also feed the White Volta are also overflowing their banks and are flowing back to the communities,” Ing. Philip Tettey Padi said.
Meanwhile, constructors at the Pwalugu multipurpose dam say the high volumes of water is good for their hydrological studies since that would be factored into the planning of the dam.
However, some of the workers have left the site due to the floods.
“It is good that we have seen the magnitude of the water at this time so that it will help us with the hydrological studies that we are doing,” said David Prah, senior government official in-charge of stakeholders and communication for the Pwalugu dam project.
“Those who have been suspended temporarily are the surveyors and some property valuators because some properties are within the flooded areas, so they cannot enter there so currently, we have asked them to hold on for a few weeks.”