Rate of Bagre Dam spillage increases amid heavy rains

• Posted on September 6, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

The rate of spillage of the Bagre Dam has increased because of persistent rainfall in Burkina Faso and Niger, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) has said.

The resulting flooding from the annual spillage hit parts of Northern Ghana hard, particularly areas along the White Volta and the Black Volta, with loss of life and property recorded.

On Tuesday, 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.

Pwalugu in the Upper East Region has also been one of the hardest hit areas, according to NADMO.

But there appears to be no respite in sight in the short term.

Speaking to Citi News, a Deputy National Coordinator of NADMO, Abu Ramadan, explained that “it is raining on a daily basis and the dam too is being spilled on a daily basis too as well so they [SONABEL Authorities of Burkina Faso, Managers of the Bagre Dam] have increased the rate of spillage.”

Mr. Ramadan said his outfit was still going to focus on sensitization because “it is still raining in Burkina Faso and Niger so as it is raining heavily there, the dam will keep filling [up].”

He urged residents in affected communities to “still stay away from the water line.”

“Those in low lying areas should keep moving and that is what we have been telling them. Our people on the ground are telling them. We are not just telling them. We are using their own people, the locals and their chiefs, in educating them.”

NADMO has previously 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 disaster management organization had already hinted at the situation being worse this year when it noted that 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.