Four Assemblies ready for Accra rains

Four local assemblies in Accra say they are prepared to contain any floods this year, following a warning by the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMAT).

The assemblies are the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Weija-Gbawe, Ga South and the Korley Klottey municipal assemblies.

The said detailed plans had been drawn up to avert flooding in their localities during this rainy season.

The plans include educating residents to adopt good environmental practices and desilting gutters and drains.

This came to light last Friday when the Daily Graphic visited some communities in the municipalities to check on their preparedness to contain flooding as the rainy season sets in.

The areas visited included Alajo, Caprice, Mallam Junction, Kaneshie, First Light, Abossey Okai, Odorna, Adabraka, James Town and Agbogbloshie.

At some of these places, it was realised some drains and gutters were choked with garbage and sand.

Warning

The Meteorological Agency last month warned that floods in Accra were going to increase this year due to the low resilience of the area to adapt to heavy rains.

The agency said although rainfall amount and distribution for the 2020 season was going to be mostly similar to or slightly lower than last year’s, the vulnerability of residents in Accra had increased as a result of the continuous building of structures in water areas, inadequate and choked drainage systems, among others.

“Previously, Accra could get flooded only when it experienced over 80 millimetres of rains, but the present situation makes it worse and that about 30 millimetres of rains could make the city go under water. The situation is due to anthropogenic (environmental pollution and pollutant) activities among individuals who live in the area,” the agency said.

Ever prepared

The Ga South Municipal Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Christian Afiadenyo, said the assembly was just about starting work on desilting gutters in the municipality.

“We are ever prepared for any flooding. Because of what the Ghana Meteorological Agency told us we are on the verge of desilting and cleaning up our gutters and drains. We would open the estuary too,” he said.

The water in the Weija Dam enters the sea at an estuary located in the Ga South municipality.

Education starts

The Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA) told the Daily Graphic that the assembly had begun educating community members, particularly those living around Adabraka Sahara, as well as those living and trading in and around the Pedestrian Shopping Mall and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, on what to do during the rainy season.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the assembly, Nii Ofori-Quaye, urged traders in flood-prone areas in the municipality to desist from trading when they saw signs portending rainfall.

He said the Disaster Management Committee of the assembly, headed by the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Samuel Nii Adjei Tawiah, would handle the sensitisation exercise.

He noted that the move was in response to information given by the GMET that there would be more rains in Accra than before.

“The municipality is a low lying area and for that matter it is flood-prone. What we are doing now is to sensitise the people to leave the places of possible flooding when it’s about to rain and not wait for it to start raining,” he said.

He, however, added that they would soon begin de-silting gutters within electoral areas such as Odorna, Asylum Down, Adabraka Official Town, Osu Alata and Tudu which usually got flooded when it rained heavily.

Observation

During the visit to the Mallam Junction, for instance, it was realised that portions of the newly constructed storm drain in the area were silted with sand and weeds.

This means that anytime there is a downpour, the water would spill over on
to the road and can get into homes around the area.

A resident, who gave his name only as Bro Yaw, said: “Look at the new drain; it is choked and now the water is not flowing through it.”

He said the recent rains entered some homes because of the choked drain, and that there was the need for the assembly to do something about the situation urgently.

Two taxi drivers at the Mallam Junction — Messrs Jeff Owusu and Emmanuel Okine — said they occasionally organised clean-up exercises to clean gutters to ensure the free flow of water.

“We don’t wait for anybody because if we do that we will be overtaken by events,” Mr Owusu said.

At the Darkuman Junction, the Daily Graphic team realised that one part of the drain leading towards the Total Filling Station had been de-silted. However, the sand and garbage from it had been left on the shoulder of the drain, meaning that they could be washed back into the drain when it rains.

The other side of the drain, which is supposed to link the main drain towards Accra Academy, however, had plenty of sand, as construction work on it had stalled.

Construction

A welder, Mr Yaw Kumi, said construction work began on the choked portion of the drain in 2010, “and since then nothing has been done about it.”

“Because the drain has not been completed this entire area gets flooded whenever there is a downpour. The uncompleted drain is supposed to link the main one from Accra Academy but see, it has been left just like that since 2010,” he lamented.

At the Kaneshie Market and the First Light area, some of the traders said they had taken it upon themselves to clean the drains in the area since they worked around the place.

A mobile phone accessory dealer, Mr Yam Frimpong, said although the drain near Accra Academy had been completed there was a smaller one opposite that needed to be expanded.

It was realised that because the drain was small, it was filled with refuse at the time the Daily Graphic team got there.

“Because this small drain has not been completed the big drain at Accra Academy is not making any positive impact since the small one cannot contain the volume of water from the big one. As result water keeps spilling over on to the road when it rains,” Mr Samuel Kissi, another trader said.

When the team got to Odorna, it saw that a bridge and drain which construction began about a year ago to ensure the free flow of water were yet to be completed.

Situation

According to some artisans in the area, the situation was worrying as it was making it difficult to cross from one end of the road to the other.

They said work stalled on the project shortly after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo visited the place during his tour of the Greater Accra Region.

“The Meteorological Agency has warned of flooding this year but now see, construction work on the drain has stalled. Part of the Odaw drain too is also filled with sand and rubbish. We need to do something in terms of desilting the drain and completing the bridge project,” the Chairman of Zone One of the Ghana National Association of Garages, Mr Kwasi Odame, said.

Garbage in drains

At Alajo and Caprice, some of the residents expressed concern at the way some people in the area threw garbage into the main drain, thereby causing part of it to be filled with silt.

A resident, Mr Goodluck Adams, said it was sad that people kept throwing refuse into the drain in spite of the education against the practice.

Another resident, Yaw Ofori, who is also a barber, said he had on a number of occasions confronted people who tried to throw refuse into the gutter.

“About two weeks ago, I confronted an elderly man who asked whether the place belonged to me. There are so many people living along the drain doing that,” he said, and “I think it is about time people are sent there in the night to check on those things,” she said.

At Abossey Okai, some residents said they were only waiting for the construction work to finish for them to see if the flooding situation would improve since the roundabout got flooded whenever it rained in the past.

“For now we can’t say anything but just wait for the construction work to finish,” Mr Martin Frimpong, a trader said.