3 Tongu districts crushing under spillage cry for help

Make no mistake about the terrible situation the three Tongu districts are in.

Literally, every Tongu person is scrambling for cover and the sheer loss, pressure, disappointment and frustration are sad and pitiful.

Picture it from Sogakope’s viewpoint in South Tongu!  The Comboni Centre boasting the Comboni Hospital, Comboni Mortuary, Comboni Technical Vocational Institute, Comboni Basic Schools and the Invitro Lab have all been closed down.  

As things stand, the Sogakope District Hospital is picking up in the sludge …

Thousands of students (basic school through senior high schools) have left for their various homes or hometowns.

Several hundreds of patients cannot access the premier Comboni Hospital at Sogakope, and families of the deceased, whose dead relations were in the Comboni Morgue were made to rush there and take those bodies away.

While hundreds of Invitro lab employees are all at home.

The Sogakope Beach Resort is not accepting guests, as the facility is reeling from the impact of the floods.  

The Agordomi Water Works, which treats and supplies water to Sogakope, is affected and potable water has not been flowing in our taps for the last several days.

Enclaves

South Tongu’s Gonu enclaves of Ahiatrogakope, Havorkope, Adadzikope, Agbokope, Sukladzi, Ashiagborkope, Tsinuto et al., have historically reeled under floods wreaked on them by the Tordzie River.

Now that the Akosombo Dam spillage is pushing and supplying water with speed never witnessed in decades, the flood level at the greater Gonu area is simply heart wrenching.

Now, consider New Bakpa in Central Tongu, which is being forced to host several thousands of inhabitants of the island of Bakpa Awadiwoekome.

The island is now submerged and completely deserted.

But when you figure that same island had a functional kindergarten, primary and junior high school form one, just over a week ago, the picture becomes clearer.

The people of New Bakpa are scrambling to feed and comfort their kins from Bakpa Awadiwoekome over their unprecedented loss and sad state of affairs right now.

Local leaders – chiefs, assembly members, and prominent citizens are all scrambling to ensure there is water, food, and shelter for now …

Plight

The plight of Tongu is truly sad and the extent of loss, wreckage and devastation is farfetched and sweeping.

Right down from Atimpoku Bridge to Hawui, Tsatsukope, Alikekope, Agbeve (Estuary of the Volta River), it is a story of loss, grief and consternation never seen before 
Local utilities companies are not spared the brunt of this spillage.

The ECG/GRIDCo Power Substation at Sogakope has been breached by the floods.

The Agordomi Water Works and Adidome Water Treatment Plants are all not working.

Not surprisingly, I saw pictures of the folks in my holy village of Bakpa-Avedo where I grew up queuing and crying for water.

No water-producing plant is pumping water right now, and those not directly affected by the floods are having to make do with borehole water, anything like water would suffice. 

Dangerous

Another impact of the floods is the aggravated and dangerous environment being wreaked on the Tongu people.

With these floods, toilets, mortuaries, refuse dumps, cemeteries and anything you can think of is being stirred to prop up an environment difficult to describe.

All living things — humans, snakes, scorpions, mosquitoes and what have you — are looking for cover.

I saw a picture of one guy dangling a python he had killed on his flooded or washed away rice farm at Agordome, Agave.

It tells you the health risks are right here with us.

It is a calamity of national monumental proportions!

Former President John Mahama came to Sogakope  on Friday, October 13, 2023, to assess the situation.  

President Akufo-Addo also visited the area and assessed the situation, announcing that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture would work on a long-term relief programme for farmers affected by the floods, among other interventions; while the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has also toured the place to see the state of affairs himself.

The National Disaster Management Organisation, Environmental Protection Agency, Regional and District Relief response teams are all gradually scaling up their duties and responsibilities.

We have a state of emergency right here.

For now, it is your help no matter how little that we need.  

See which of the three Tongu districts you can easily reach — Sogakope, Adidome and Battor are the capitals, or which of the three Tongu MPs you can reach out to — Kobby Woyome, Gabby Hottordze and Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa.

Food, water, clothing, medicine, medics, and relief items would do.

Of course, you can donate money and volunteer your time and support towards the relief efforts.  

Seriously, we are stretched and bursting here at the seams because we sit under the Akosombo Dam.

The writer is an entrepreneur and resident of Sogakope,  South Tongu.