The President, Nana Akufo-Addo has re-echoed attitudinal change as the panacea to the perennial flooding experienced in the national capital and other parts of the country.
“Beyond addressing issues of infrastructure, our attitudes towards sanitation have to change as well, in order to help tackle the problem of the perennial flooding of Accra. Every effort is being made by the public authorities to deal with this problem,” Nana Akufo-Addo tweeted Tuesday.
At least 12 people were washed away in Accra with an estimated 30,000 reportedly displaced on two separate days after hours of torrential rains within the last seven days.
The dead included a couple, both of whom were serving military officers and an 11-month-old toddler. S/Sgt Arthur Jabez, 45 and his wife WO Sarah Kuadzi, 40 were travelling in a military pick up from a funeral in Tema when their vehicle got caught in the flood waters at a suburb along the motorway known as Adjei-Kojo.
NADMO is still searching for the bodies of a six-year-old boy and an adult male who were swept away by flood waters at Sakaman and Ablekuma, respectively. The bodies of man who was pushed into the Odaw River around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and that of the 11-month old baby is also being searched for.
Commenting on the floods in series of tweets, the President said; “The news of the death of 12 persons in the recent flooding that hit our nation’s capital is very sad. My sincere condolences to the families of the deceased.”
He added that “GH¢197 million has been released to the Ministry of Works and Housing to desilt choked drains, the contracts for the works have been awarded, and are ongoing.”
It is not the raining season yet but expert Hydrologist, Wise Ametepe, says Accra may well be on course for a flood catastrophe if this year’s rain forecasts by the Ghana Meteorological Agency come to pass.
