Rains Cause Traffic On Accra-Kasoa Road

Part of the traffic which built up on road.

The vulnerability of Accra to floods during rainstorms manifested Friday morning when portions of the Kasoa-Accra road were deeply submerged in flood waters after about an hour and half of rains causing a serious vehicular traffic.

The rain, which started around 6am at Kasoa created heavy traffic on the entire Kasoa-Accra stretch of the Accra-Winneba Road.

Some motorists spent three to four hours in traffic as portions of the road, especially at the Bortianor junction (old barrier) and broadcasting junction were submerged in flood waters.

At the broadcasting junction, the floods deposited sand on the road and made it difficult for vehicles to drive through.

Some drivers chose to drive on the opposite lane of the dual carriageway but that notwithstanding, the traffic moved at a snail pace.

Many drivers especially, taxi and trotro drivers who were impatient drove on the shoulders of the road and this further compounded the traffic situation.

It took the intervention of the police and officials from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to ensure that sanity prevailed at the place.

Some shops and buildings at the SCC junction were flooded by rain water.

Many workers who lived beyond the Kasoa Toll Booth were late for work whiles others were not able to make it to work at all as the floods marooned them in their homes.

Most businesses in those areas were temporarily closed, as the floods deposited huge volumes of silt and garbage on their premises.

The city of Accra, which is sited on low lying ground, experiences flooding annually mainly because of the haphazard construction of houses, especially on water courses, poor drainage and waste management system that leads to residents choking the drains with garbage.

Efforts by city authorities to check the situation continue to be undermined by recalcitrant residents and a weak enforcement of bye-laws.

Last year, the floods that swept through the capital resulted in the death of seven persons at various parts of the city, in addition to the destruction of property running into millions of Ghana cedis.

Similar incidents were recorded in 1995, 1997 and 2001.