A 50-year-old farmer drowned in the White Volta at Yama, a farming community in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region, on Monday.

The incident occurred on Monday, August 25, 2025, while the deceased, identified as Baba Takwara, was working with 10 other men to salvage his crops cultivated along the White Volta in anticipation of flooding from the spillage of the Bagre Dam.

The deceased is said to have left his colleagues to fetch water from the White Volta with a gallon for them, but failed to return.  His colleagues later found the gallon floating on the river, sparking a frantic search.  The body was subsequently retrieved.

Confirmation 

The North East Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Alhaji Tahiru Rafiu, who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, explained that the deceased is believed to have slipped into the river and was unable to swim ashore.

He clarified that, contrary to earlier reports, the farm itself was not flooded at the time of the incident. 
Rather, he said the deceased was harvesting his crops in anticipation of flooding from the Bagre Dam spillage. The body has since been buried in accordance with Islamic traditions.

Alhaji Rafiu cautioned farmers in the area against working too close to the river during this period and urged residents of lowland communities to take precautionary measures, as the Bagre Dam spillage is expected to increase water levels in the coming days.

Spillage 

On Monday, August 25, SONABEL, Burkina Faso’s national electricity company, began spillage of excess water from the Bagre Dam tomorrow 

The move follows the rapid rise in water levels at the Bagre and Kompienga dams. 

As of Saturday, August 23, 2025, the Bagre Dam recorded an elevation of 234.27 metres with a filling rate of 90.24 per cent, just 0.73 metres below its maximum retention level.

Similarly, the Kompienga Dam stood at 177.90 metres with a filling rate of 79.36 per cent, with only 2.10 metres to reach its normal retention capacity.

This implies that both reservoirs are nearing their maximum levels, prompting the controlled release of excess water. The spillage is part of a controlled operation aimed at preventing any potential damage to the dams’ infrastructure,

However, residents in communities downstream of the White and Black Volta have been advised to stay alert and prepare for potential flooding.

Rising water levels

Checks by the Daily Graphic indicate that water levels in the Black and White Volta have already begun rising, signalling the likelihood of flooding in lowland communities. Farmers, in particular, fear for their crops as many are yet to harvest.

In several communities, cereals are still tussling while others are nearing maturity, raising fears of poor harvest prospects should the floods set in. Within the White and Black Volta enclave, residents appeared to be bracing themselves for the annual ritual of flooding even as NADMO intensified measures to save lives and properties.

Background

The spillage, which began in 1999, eight years after the construction of the multipurpose hydro dam on the White Volta, has become an annual ritual with communities along the White and Black Volta in the Northern, North East, Upper East, and Savannah regions at the receiving end.

For the past years, many lives have been lost while large tracts of farmlands and properties running into millions of Ghana cedis have been destroyed by the floods.