Emergency preparedness plan in line with the commissioning of the La Gogue dam   |17 February 2023

A resident putting forward her point during the meeting yesterday

PUC, DRDM discuss evacuation plan with Anse Etoile residents, business owners

The Public Utilities Corporation in collaboration with the Disaster Risk Management Division and the district authorities are holding a series of meetings for the general public, especially for residents and business operators in the Anse Etoile and Glacis districts, to discuss the emergency preparedness plan in line with the commissioning of the La Gogue dam.

The emergency plan is in relation to mitigating the impact in case of disaster that may occur by gushing water pouring down below, caused through seepage or breaking of the dam.

The first meeting took place yesterday at 5pm at the Anse Etoile community centre for would-be affected residents and business operators in the district. It was led by the chief executive of the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) Joel Valmont, assisted by the La Gogue dam project coordinator Erna Victor, project director Michel Bristol, and principal disaster management officer with the Disaster Risk Management Division (DRMD) Daniel Cetoupe.

Also present were the elected member of the National Assembly for Anse Etoile, Georges Romain, district administrator Shirley Mussard, representatives from PUC and DRMD, and nine residents from the district. Mr Valmont described the turnout as “very disappointing”.

“But we will be holding door to door visits to the residents and business operators to inform them of the emergency preparedness plan,” added Mr Valmont who noted that even though it’s unlikely that any thing will or might happen to the dam, it is better to have an emergency plan in place just in case something happens.

On presenting the emergency preparedness plan, Mr Bristol said PUC will put in place an alarm system to trigger warnings to residents in the case of impending failure of the dam.  The alarm system will consist of four phases and the first is an internal alert to indicate a situation or event which requires more than routine attention.

Phase one alert will refer to an unusual problem or situation in which a failure of the dam is not imminent but that could develop into a situation of emergency if not attended to but can be managed internally while outside notification is necessary.

Phase 2 alert is an emergency alert referring to a developing or occurring event which is or may adversely affect the integrity of the dam but is considered controllable while outside notification and ‘Keep off the river’ order are also necessary.

The phase 3 alert is the evacuation alert and refers to a situation in which the dam is being overtopped or rapid deterioration is occurring signaling failure is likely to occur and to which outside notification and evacuation order is necessary.

Mr Bristol added that the alarm warning system for residents down below will face three directions as from the dam ‒ Anse Etoile, Glacis and Sorento, towards the Hilton Northolme Hotel & Spa. The alarm will be of a high pitch density for residents and passers-by to hear so that they can evacuate the place.

He also said PUC has in place an emergency detection and evaluation system for unusual occurrences happening at the dam in relation to flooding, abnormal behaviour, landslide, severe storm, cracking and piping.

He noted that the Anse Etoile district will be mostly affected in case of any eventualities with the dam as some 50 households, the primary school and district administration office are situated in the water pathway, measuring from 0 to 5 metres at different points depending if it is a dam break which will amount to a lot of water, a spillage resulting in less water coming down, and flood release with even less water coming down.

He noted though that all three scenarios will have an impact on the primary school and beyond.   

In his presentation, Mr Cetoupe said the St Georges church at Maldives and the St Antoine church at Anse Etoile have been chosen as evacuation centres for residents in the district in case of an emergency, while DRMD is looking for other places to act as evacuation centres.

After the presentations, the main points of concern were the primary school and insurance on properties.

Mr Valmont said PUC is working with the State Assurance Corporation (Sacos) for a special package to cover residents while the school will be given enough assistance with regard to evacuation of children to the St Antoine church.

He noted that the way the dam is designed, eventualities will not happen in one go as they will be noticeable beforehand and this will allow for enough time for warnings and evacuation.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, the residents present said they were happy with the plan but added that it would have been better to hear the views of more residents.

The next meeting will be held at the Glacis community centre on Thursday February 23 for residents and business operators in the district which will be followed by a general public meeting at the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) conference room, Latanier road, on March 2, 2023.

PUC will also be holding door to door visits to residents and business operators in the two districts. It is to be noted that the dam of a capacity of 1,600,000m³ is currently 49% full.

Text & photos by Patrick Joubert