The Volta River Authority has denied ever blaming the Ghana Meteorological Agency for the unfortunate flood situation following the spillage of water from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams.
Mr Edward Obeng-Kenzo, Deputy Chief Executive Engineering and Operations, said the VRA had been working and relying on the data of the GMA for the past 60 years.
“We can never ever blame GMA. It’s never possible. As I’ve always been saying, for the past 60 plus years we’ll be working with Ghana Meteorological Agency, they tell us how the rains will come how the weather will behave, and allows us to predict and project the water level,” he said.
He said GMA data over the years had always been comparable to the data from the Africa Weather Centre, the European Weather Centre and all the other agencies.
He said such prediction of the pattern of rainfall always had a condition that it might change,” adding there’s a probability that might change to a severe rainfall.
He said the GMA predicted more rains from August onwards and “that is what we are seeing and we also adjusted upon the data that is given so we can never blame them for it.”
The Volta River Authority started a controlled spillage of water from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on September 15, 2023, necessitated by the heavy rainfall in the Volta river catchment area, resulting in the rapid rise in water levels at the dam.
The VRA said the spilling was necessary to prevent the overtopping of the dam and to protect the dam from collapsing after the dam breached its normal operational level of 276 feet.
The spill affected the downstream communities in the North, Central and South Tongu districts.
In line with the VRA emergency preparedness plan, the relevant authorities, including the National Disaster Management organisation, the municipal and district assemblies and the downstream communities were made aware while the officials were urged to monitor the impact of the control spill on the downstream communities and regularly asssess the water level with the sole objective of safeguarding the loss of lives and properties.