Accra still counts cost of flood disaster (Page 29)

THREE days after heavy floods had affected parts of Accra, residents are still counting their losses and praying for sunshine to enable them to dry their wet belongings.
Hopelessness and utter despair were what greeted anyone who visited any of the areas that was hit by the flash flood of last Friday night. Children in many of the affected homes looked rather weakened and despondent as their parents were too busy to care for them.
As early as 6.30am last Sunday when the Daily Graphic visited some of the affected areas, notably Mataheko, Atico, Kaneshie and Abossey Okai, both residents and shopkeepers were busily bringing out soaked items, some of which were still dripping with water.
Although many of the items were destroyed beyond redemption, their owners were seen moving them out onto the open in the hope of getting them dried up.
Some of the household items included mattresses, electrical appliances, clothing, footwear, furniture, carpets, wall hangings, curtains, suitcases, bags and in certain homes, uncooked food items that were destroyed.
To some, they would have felt being better if their items got wet, but all their belongings were unfortunately washed away completely.
As one moves along the main Mallam-Obetsebi Lamptey road, items which were supposed to be in shops were openly spread on pavements looking wet and good for nothing.
Such items included bags of cement, bundles of suiting materials, sewing machines, electrical appliances, children’s ware, second-hand clothing, hardware, among others.
Homes at Mataheko, Kaneshie and Sakaman were still filled with mud as residents continued to wash their clothing, cooking utensils and other items.
To enable vehicles move freely on the stretch of the Mallam-Kanashie road, which was washed away during the storm, city guards from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) prevented hawkers who usually displayed their wares along the road, opposite the market, from operating along the shoulders of the streets.
Claiming that some of their items were destroyed during the rainfall, “the decongestive exercise” did not go down well with the traders who cursed the guards for being insensitive to their plight.
“Hawkers at Circle and Makola are still selling on the pavements. Why do they have to treat those of us who are already in dire need, because our items were destroyed,” a middle-aged man queried.
The owner of a nine-bedroom house around the Takoradi Station at Kaneshie, Madam Oboshie Laryea, said everything she had acquired within the past 52 years of her life was destroyed.
She said she left her house for friend’s funeral in another part of the city, only to return to see that her room had been flooded to the window level.
“I locked my door before leaving, so no one could enter the room to bring my belongings out,” she lamented.
In all the areas that the Daily Graphic visited, one thing that residents kept saying was that the government should come to their aid in these difficult times.