More Rains Ahead, Meteo Warns (Front Page)

THE volume of rain that resulted in the death of seven people and a massive destruction of property in the western part of Accra has been estimated at 313.8 millimetres, one of the highest ever recorded by the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA).
Disclosing the details to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, a Senior Meteorologist of the agency, Mr Amos Narh, said the last time the agency recorded something near that was in the 1970s and warned of more serious disaster for residents of that part of Accra if watercourses remained blocked before the next downpour.
Giving reasons for Friday night’s disaster at Kaneshie and adjoining communities, Mr Narh said although there had been rain in other parts of the country, what occurred in the flooded communities was intense.
He compared the 313.8mm recorded in the disaster area to other areas such as Osu, where the volume of water recorded by the GMA at the same period was 2.5mm; Airport, 2.7mm; Mamprobi Polyclinic, 6.1mm, and Weija, 98.5mm.
Mr Narh cautioned that the situation needed urgent attention to avoid a disaster on a massive scale in the future, adding that “the rainy season is not yet over”.
He said unlike in the 1970s and the early 1980s when Accra recorded such high volumes of rainfall without any problems, the current relatively low volumes of rainfall were likely to cause havoc.
He attributed the current situation to human activities that made it difficult for rainwater to flow freely and called for immediate action to solve the problem.
Mr Narh said since no human being could prevent rainfall or its volume at any given time, it was important that the right measures were put in place to avoid the annual disaster.
He said residents of Accra were fortunate that the last storm had been localised and concentrated at a few areas.
Heavy floods in the western part of Accra on Friday night claimed at least seven lives and caused massive destruction to private and public property after two hours of rain.
Disaster managers described the floods as the most destructive in recent times, with the most affected places being Sakaman and Kaneshie.
The floods also washed away the bitumen on the main Kaneshie First Light-Mpamprom road and caused some of the vehicles caught in the rush-hour traffic to float and crash into one another.