Rain rain go away

It is with a heavy heart that we once again revisit Ghana's perennial flooding problem. Serious flooding and its attendant disasters has been a regular feature on the country's meteorological calendar. The heavy rains that were experienced last Friday in Accra and Kpong led to the death of some seven persons, with some more feared dead, and destruction to properties. According to Joy News, the intense rains, which lasted more than two hours, destroyed several properties including cars, homes, street lights and shops occupied by traders, and also rendered hundreds of people homeless.

The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) has quickly reacted by providing relief items and temporary shelter to victims of the floods. The Public Relations Officer at NADMO, Major Retired Nicholas Mensah, told Joy News that his organization, together with its partners are putting measures in place to ensure that affected victims are adequately assisted.

The Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng, stated in a press statement that: “President Atta Mills extends his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and sympathises with the injured and those who have lost property as a result of the flooding.” The President further asked NADMO to take steps to address the predicament of the flood victims.

In times past, we have witnessed situations where our leaders have flown across the country in Helicopters to assess the extent of damage caused by flooding.

The Chronicle, however, holds the view that it is about time this nation puts an end to the 'fire service' approach that we have adopted towards this perennial flooding phenomenon. Do we always have to wait for the rains to wreck havoc on lives and properties, before we call on NADMO to provide relief items to victims? Much as the consequences of natural disasters can not be completely avoided, we must also try as much as possible to eliminate most of the causes of the flooding which are due to our actions and inactions.

The narrow nature of most of our drains, choking of the storm drains and building of structures on water ways, among many others, are all contributory factors to the flooding problem that are caused by recalcitrant citizens. The governmental agencies that have also been put in charge of implementing waste disposal and management, as well as making people adhere to the building regulations have also lapsed in the discharge of their responsibilities.

In the absence of the law working to regulate our behaviour and actions, we engage in indiscriminate and haphazard conduct which results in the choking of the storm drains and building structures erupting on water ways. When the rains come down, the consequences are the destructions to lives and properties that we witness. And since we have NADMO coming to our aid during times of distress, like the proverbial vulture, when the sun comes out, we forget to address the problems that cause the flooding until we enter another raining season.

It is about time that the issue of flooding is seriously tackled to avoid the perennial tragedies that we experience. Narrow drains should be widened, choked drains should be desilted and building structures on water ways should be cleared among other bold and pragmatic measures.

In the meanwhile, the Ghana Meteorological Agency has indicated that the torrential rains will continue for sometime. While we adopt adhoc measures to fight the current problems of flooding that will emanate, let us also consider the long term solutions.