The rainy season sets in, with its corollary of floods. Last Wednesday August 3, several districts of the capital were flooded by heavy rains. Vehicles, house furniture, commercial goods were washed away by the rainwater. To take stock of the damage caused by these first rains, a government team crisscrossed the neighborhoods that suffered the fury of the waters. But people are still worried because the National Meteorological Agency predicts more rain. For these populations, the most urgent thing is to free the water passages.
With our correspondent in Ouagadougou, Yaya Boudani
A few days after the passage of rainwater, some residents of the capital are trying to restore what can be restored. Vehicles or furniture washed away, walls damaged. Material damage amounting to millions of CFA francs for some victims. ” The cars are in the garage, the water got inside. I’m discouraged, I’ve raised the walls and the water has knocked them down », Comments an Ouagalais.
These victims accuse the municipal authorities of not having carried out the cleaning of the pipes on the one hand, but also of not having properly studied the construction of certain roads.
” We were flooded here because of the lack of a gutter, analyzes a resident. They didn’t take into account who was going to live there later. They made water evacuations, but it is not enough. In the districts, here, it will be necessary to put gutters so that the water arrives at the level of the channeling of the main road. »
” We don’t make new gutters, we don’t unclog, it will continue, laments another. As long as we don’t change our way of doing things, it will continue. »
These residents fear a repeat of the 2009 floods which left about ten dead and 150,000 victims. ” I’m afraid we’ll relive the September 1, 2009we will have to take our concerns “, we fear in the neighborhood. ” Now is the season. The beginning is heavy rains, the end is heavy rains. So why didn’t they take action? »
After a visit to the affected people, the Minister of Town Planning and Housing promises that the government will act to avoid the worst.