13-year old drowns after downpour, Bagre Dam spillage

• Posted on September 5, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

A 13-year-old boy drowned at Walewale in the Northern Region supposedly due to the combined effects of the spillage of the Bagre Dam and a heavy rainfall.

The deceased had reportedly gone swimming with some friends in the flood waters when he drowned.

A Deputy head of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Abu Ramadan, confirmed the incident to the media.

He said police were now looking into the incident.

“We [NADMO] dispatched men there and about 7:30 to 8:00, they were  able to retrieve the body from the dam and it is has been sent to the police and investigations have commenced into the cause of death.”

He also said more sensitization on the spillage and flooding would be carried out because of the nature of this incident.

“The death is a result of the heavy rains and overflow of the water. We have dispatched our men, and [today], God willing, there will be more sensitization in the area,” Mr. Ramadan stated.

NADMO has already warned persons living along the banks of the Black and White Volta that the managers of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso would be spilling water from the dam.

Water in the dam rose by about 80 percent in the month of August 2018 as compared to the 50 percent rise in August 2017.

NADMO has indicated that the combined effect of the water levels of the White Volta rising and the Bagre Dam being opened normally leaves almost 200,000 persons affected by flooding in northern Ghana and beyond.

The Tono Dam has also been spilled in the last few weeks.