Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, has said that military personnel and police officers are on standby to provide assistance to augment rescue efforts by the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to mitigate the impact of spilled water from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso.

Several farmlands at Pwalugu in the Northern Region and communities along the White Volta were submerged as of Monday, 3 September 2018 and farmers have resorted to using canoes to access parts of the farms.

Several acres of farmland in Timonde and nearby communities in the Bawku West district of the Upper East Region were also submerged while business and trading activities got halted due to flooding resulting from the spillage of excess water the previous week.

According to SONABEL Authorities of Burkina Faso, Managers of the Bagre Dam, the spillage has become necessary due to the 81 per cent increase in the water level.

Even though NADMO) has dispatched a 25-man team headed by its Deputy Director-General, Abu Ramadan, to the regions up north, to deal with the aftermath of the spillage , Mr Dery assured the communities that the military and police are already on high alert and ready to move to areas in dire need of assistance to save lives and property.

“I have been in touch with the military and the police and I have told them to standby should there be a need. We have got message that one of the bridges between Tumu and Wa has collapsed [and] we are trying to validate that and I believe when we do so…personnel will liaise with the Minister who is the Chairman of the Regional Security Council,” he explained in an interview.

He said the country needs to devise long-term measures and ways to harness the water being spilled from the dam for good use.