Akufo-Addo Says Attitudinal Change Key To Tackling Accra Floods

At least 12 people were washed away in Accra with an estimated 30,000 reportedly displaced on two separate days after some 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.

“Even when we have 40 millimetres of rainfall [there is flooding]. Some time past, 40 millimetres of rainfall would not have caused flooding; 50 millimetres would not have caused flooding,” he stated on the Super Morning show on Joy FM, Monday.

A Deputy Director General of the National Disaster Management Organisation [NADMO] has said that there cannot be a lasting solution to floods in Ghana until there is attitudinal change.

Mr Abu Ramadan speaking on the Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday said human element contributes 60% to 70% of floods in the country.

Abu Ramadan

“There may not be a lasting solution,” said Ramadan. “The reason why I say that is; we can do everything we want to do, spend billions of dollars in restructuring our drains and everything but if the attitude of the Ghanaian does not change it still comes to zero.

“In Ghana, we do not have natural disasters, in terms of rains and all that, they are all manmade and human-made by virtue of our own attitude and the ways we do our things. This contributes to the flooding that you see,” Mr Ramadam told Joy FM’s host.

---Myjoyonline