Northern floods claim eight lives

Tamale, Aug. 22, GNA - Eight lives have so far been lost in the northern floods caused by persistent rains in the Savelugu/Nanton and West Mamprusi Districts.

Three were recorded at Sug-Tampia and Yoggu in the Savelugu/Nanton District, one in the Tolon/Kumbungu District while four were recorded at Janga in the West Mamprusi District.

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister announced this in an interim flood situation report at a meeting in Tamale on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by District Chief Executives, officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), UNICEF, the Red Cross and NGOs.

It was a follow-up to an earlier meeting to enable stakeholders offer inputs into efforts being made to save lives and properties, which could result from the opening of the spillway of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso soon.

Alhaji Idris said several areas of the Savelugu/Nanton District along the Nasia and White Volta had been cut-off from the rest of the district with only Kubolila in particular, accessible by road from Tamale through Walewale in the West Mamprusi District.

He said the Kpasenkpe area in the West Mamprusi District was likely to be cut-off from the rest of the district if the Bagre Dam was opened. Mr Idris said reports from Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo and Chereponi districts indicated that communities along the Oti and Gbugbari rivers were flooded with several houses washed away and farmlands inundated. The White Volta in the Tolon/Kumbungu, West and Central Gonja, he said, had broken its banks and was spreading out adding that the communities could only be reached by boat.

The Regional Minister told the meeting that Saboba, the capital of the Saboba District, was now virtually an island because all roads leading to the area from Yendi through Kalba, Wapuli and Chereponi were flooded.

He said Sabara Number Two and Kolikolini in the Zabzugu/Tatale District were flooded as well as parts of the Karaga and Gushegu Districts.

Alhaji Idris attributed the flooding to the heavy rains in the region and expressed concern of a worse situation should the Bagre Dam be opened.

Meanwhile, personnel from NADMO, Volta River Authority and Information Services Department are on the ground warning the communities along the river banks to relocate to safer places.