4902/5000 Floods in the Center-North region: Nearly 240 mm of water recorded in the town of Boulsa; severe damage in several municipalities

During the night of July 21 to 22, 2010, torrential rains fell in the North Central region causing extensive damage. Recorded water levels reached 237 mm in some localities making thousands of people homeless. In some towns, especially the town of Bouroum, the victims of some villages took refuge on heights (hills and trees) which are the only points where the water level has not reached.
A joint emergency assessment mission of the situation went to the said locality from July 24 to 26, 2010. Made up of the Directorate General for the Promotion of the Rural Economy (DGPER) and the World Food Program (WFP) ), the mission traveled through most of the disaster-stricken towns in order to get to grips with the reality of stricken populations.
Most of the water reservoirs in the various municipalities could not withstand the large quantities of water that had fallen. Some reservoirs overflowed and others gave way through their dikes. The floods claimed many lives in several municipalities in the region. Some villages are completely submerged by water. The victims are on the accommodation sites without food reserves. The most striking observation is that in some inaccessible areas, the victims took refuge on the hills with the few animals they were able to save.
In the Center-North region, the number of victims is around 35,000 people. The situation is even more serious in certain municipalities where all the villages are affected. In fact, in the commune of Bouroum, all the 21 villages in the commune are affected. For the communes of Yalgo and Tougouri, there are 5/11 and 24/42 affected villages respectively. In particular, the village of Ritkoulga, which houses the largest market in the town, saw its market completely washed away (houses, shops and various goods).
Any commercial exchange is compromised for the moment. However, in some villages where the markets are destroyed, the communities have undertaken to repair new markets.
Also, many infrastructures (roads, bridges, schools, churches, granaries, etc.) are either destroyed or flooded, thus becoming unusable or impracticable. The dikes of the dams that have given way are those of the Nioundougou and Tougouri dams in the province of Namentenga. For the Yalgo dam the water overflowed and completely flooded the market. Due to the faulty state of the infrastructure or its insufficient capacity, the waters that fell in the North Central region moved to other regions to cause significant damage.
Thus in the eastern region, a tragedy occurred in the commune of Piéla following the waters coming from the province of Namentenga. Around 20 people who were trying to cross the dam raft in a tractor fell into the water. Thirteen (13) were saved, six (06) lifeless bodies recovered. The missing, the number of which could not be determined due to the fact that no one knows the exact number of people who boarded the tractor; the figure of 25 and more is announced.
As for crops, the damage is also considerable. Under rainfed crops, the flooded areas (partial figures) of millet, maize, sorghum, cowpea, sesame and groundnuts are respectively 110, 412, 3,650, 190, 90 and 55 ha only for the province of Namentenga. Under the rice-growing areas, 30 ha of lowlands are flooded, including 20 ha irrecoverable and 71 ha of irrigated area including 60 ha irrecoverable.
The branches of the National Committee for Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation (CONASUR) are active at the level of regions and departments. On the ground, solidarity mechanisms are in operation in all the affected municipalities (disaster victims relocated to other non-affected households, sharing of food, repairing roads and tracks, etc.). On the main site of the commune of Bouroum, community meals are served but will be suspended from Sunday August 1, 2010 due to lack of resources.
On the other hand, on the other sites, no community meals are served for the moment.
A joint DGPER and PAM mission, a central SP / CONASUR mission and a mission of members of the government made it possible very quickly to observe firsthand the state of the damage and to immediately initiate emergency actions. The Ministry of Agriculture has set up a watch cell and activated the entire supervision system throughout the territory.
Source: Directorate of Foresight and Agricultural and Food Statistics (DPSAA)