As many as 26 000 people have been forced to flee their homes in southeastern Ghana, following a flood caused by an emergency release of water from the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River. The water was released after the water level in the dam reached 84.5 m following months od unusually high rainfall this summer. The maximum safe water level in the dam is 84.6 m, above which there is considered to be a risk of the dam failing catastrophically.
The Akosombo Dam was built in the 1960s as a hydroelectric dam, intended to generate power for the aluminium industry. The dam crosses the Volta River at Akosombo Gorge, creating behind it Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake on Earth, covering 3.6% of Ghana's land area. Today the dam provides much of the electricity used in Ghana, as well as neighbouring Togo and Benin.
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