{"id":56968,"date":"2023-10-15T16:05:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T16:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?p=56968"},"modified":"2023-10-15T15:11:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T15:11:07","slug":"dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama","title":{"rendered":"Dredging is good but excess water in the dam is due to heavy rains \u2013 Mahama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. <\/strong><\/span>After touring communities affected by the flood caused by the Akosombo dam spillage and interacting with officials and engineers of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Former President John Dramani Mahama attributed the excess water in the Volta Lake that led to the spillage to heavy rains in the north caused by change in the climate condition.<\/b><\/p>\n

Mr Mahama indicated that it was raining heavily throughout last week in the north when he was in that part of the country at that time. He noted that the rains did not stop when it was expected to do so.<\/p>\n

The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) told journalists that \u201cThe main problem is from above the dam, it is receiving more inflows than it normally receives. When that happens you have to protect the dam because if you don\u2019t spill then it is possible that the dam can give way and if it gives way it will be more catastrophic all the way down the Southern Volta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the first time VRA is spilling at Akosombo but this seems to be a bit heavier than normal. But it is also good to dredge because if you dredge the extra volumes of water are able to move faster. For instance, you can see under the bridge that several parts are silted, if all those parts had been cleared it would be easier for the water to flow through so that it doesn\u2019t back up to people\u2019s houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis happens once in a while, it doesn\u2019t happen every year, it is just because of climate change because normally the rainfall in the north would have started subsiding but unfortunately, when I was in the north last week it was raining heavily and so it is unusual weather, it is part of what is happening with the whole chain of climate and so we just have to see how to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added \u201cThe three most affected constituencies are North, Central, and South Tongu. I think the number of people who have been displaced especially when we went to the hospital we saw that medical personnel have all been evacuated from their quarters and they are seeking shelter in a pavilion in the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they actually need support. Our understanding is that the water is not going to rise any further, from what we hear from the VRA engineer but it will take time to get better because it takes time for the water to recede for the place to become dry again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further urged the Volta River Authority (VRA) to expedite the dispatch of the relief items it had promised to give to the victims of the flood.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cThe people really need help but unfortunately, my understanding is that NADMO has nothing, happily, VRA said they are going to support them with some relief items. So I will thank VRA and appeal to them that the people are in need and so whatever relief they want to give them they should expedite it so that they can assist people with the current situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communities including Mepe and Battor in the North Tongu Constituency have been severely hit by the flood occasioned by the spillage.<\/p>\n

Spillage of water from the Akosombo dam is expected to continue until the excess inflows in the lake recede, according to the Volta River Authority (VRA).<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the VRA, Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa said that the lake is currently experiencing inflows more than expected hence the spillage is going to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on phase II [of the spillage] right now and it is a cycle. It is normal at this time of the year for us to experience inflows. The difference is that we are getting more than expected and to safeguard this dam means that we have to spill water, that is the standard operation for any hydro dam but the inflows that we are seeing now are in excess.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, as the cycle goes through this will recede so we are hoping it will recede in the next time,\u201d he told journalists on Thursday, October 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spilling may continue even though we are anticipating that the levels may drop down to phase 1, which was started on September 15 but of course, we did not have much excess as we are seeing now, this is an emergency as we have seen from the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether dredging or no dredging it is an emergency. The volume of water that is coming into the lake right now which we have to throw out, it means that we need to evacuate people from wherever they are to ensure they are safe until the inflows recede,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The VRA was accused of neglecting its responsibilities in the Lower Volta Basin hence the huge impact of flood caused by spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on communities.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ghana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. After touring communities affected by the flood caused by the Akosombo dam spillage and interacting with officials and engineers of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Former President John Dramani Mahama attributed the excess water in the Volta Lake that led to the spillage to heavy rains in the north caused by change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":56966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[5092,5096,429],"class_list":["post-56968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-ghana","tag-ghana"],"yoast_head":"\nDredging is good but excess water in the dam is due to heavy rains \u2013 Mahama - Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After touring communities affected by the flood caused by the Akosombo dam spillage and interacting with officials an ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dredging is good but excess water in the dam is due to heavy rains \u2013 Mahama\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After touring communities affected by the flood caused by the Akosombo dam spillage and interacting with officials an ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-15T16:05:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2023\/10\/sm_1697369721.286332.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Dredging is good but excess water in the dam is due to heavy rains \u2013 Mahama\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-15T16:05:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama\"},\"wordCount\":848,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2023\/10\/sm_1697369721.286332.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Ghana\",\"ghana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/dredging-is-good-but-excess-water-in-the-dam-is-due-to-heavy-rains-mahama\",\"name\":\"Dredging is good but excess water in the dam is due to heavy rains \u2013 Mahama - 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