More floods at Darkuman Junction (Spread)

Seven days after the western part of the national capital experienced one of the worst floods in recent times, there seems to be no end to the situation.
The rains of yesterday morning once again rendered portions of the Mallam-Kaneshie road partially impassable as vehicles had to drive through water and mud to get to safer grounds.
The worst situation occurred around the Darkuman Junction, Atico-Mitsubishi area and the road stretching from the Overhead Bridge through to the UBA, Fidelity and Inter-Continental banks at Mpamprom, as well as the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle.
A large number of commuters who wanted to get to other parts of the city from Kaneshie were stranded, as many passenger vehicles were seen parked along the road.
By 9.30 a.m. when the Daily Graphic visited the Kaneshie First Light and its environs, traders who suffered losses during last week’s floods and were trying to get their wares dried out had to quickly pack them back into their shops.
Some residents around the Takoradi Station area who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of the city authorities.
Madam Oboshie Annan, 50, who said she lost her property during the last floods, said she found it difficult to understand why seven whole days after the area had witnessed such massive destruction nothing concrete seemed to have happened.
“They came to tell us that the drains were choked, hence the floods, yet nothing has been done about the drains. If they can’t construct new ones now, can’t they at least desilt the existing ones for rain water to flow freely?” she queried.
A dressmaking apprentice at a shop near Citadel House at Kaneshie, Ms Alice Boakye, said it would be unfortunate if the city authorities did not do anything about the choked drains but waited for another disaster to occur.
The National Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Kofi Portuphy, has, however, appealed to residents of Accra to support the city authorities to make the city safe from disaster.
Referring to plans by the inter-ministerial task force to demolish structures on watercourses, he expressed worry at the situation where some people tended to sympathise with wrongdoers which, in a way, discouraged those who wanted to do the right thing.
As the floods also lead to huge deposits of garbage in the affected areas, workers of Zoomlion (Ghana) Limited continue to clear the garbage at the Kaneshie Market and its environs days after the area was hit by the severe floods, reports Naa Lamiley Bentil.
Already, the waste management experts have dispatched more than 60 tipper trucks to a final disposal site at Abokobi in the Ga East District of the Greater Accra Region, as the Mallam dumping site has temporarily been closed.
A visit to the Takoradi Station at Kaneshie on Wednesday where the company was working showed the enormity of destruction that last Friday’s floods caused to property.
Personal effects such as clothes, shoes, bags, electronic items, including fridges, television sets, mattresses, books had all been rendered useless and their owners have, consequently, dumped them along the streets where Zoomlion is working.
The Greater Accra Zonal Officer of the company, Mr Robert Coleman, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that it would take more than three weeks for the company to fully clear the mess.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), which contracted Zoomlion to undertake the cleaning exercise, also asked it to desilt secondary drains to ensure free flow of water in the future and carry out periodic disinfestation of the area to prevent the outbreak of any communicable disease that might occur.
Mr Coleman said areas where those who died were found had already been fumigated and added that the company had deployed 350 of its personnel to the Kaneshie area, while the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central, Mr Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, had also released 120 of his foot soldiers to support the work.
Further, Mr Coleman said 10 tipper trucks and pay loaders, in addition to other logistics such as shovels and wheelbarrows had also been provided by the company to facilitate the evacuation.