Accra Floods-any lessons learnt?

HEAVY floods in the western parts of Accra on Friday of June 19, 2009 claimed at least seven lives and also 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, Abossey Okai, Darkuman Junction and Kaneshie.
The floods also washed away the bitumen on the main Kaneshie First Light-Mpamprom road and caught on some of the vehicles in the rush-hour traffic to float and crash into one another.
On the morning of Saturday, June 20, 2009, personnel from the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces joined members of the Emergency Unit of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to offer rescue services to some of those trapped in the disaster, some of whom were all-night worshippers at the Royal House Chapel at the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle who were carried to safer grounds by the soldiers.
Houses in low lying areas at Mallam Junction, Sakaman, Awoshie, Santa Maria, Odorkor, Darkuman Junction, Atico Junction, Mataheko, North Kaneshie, Mpamprom and the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle were filled with water, at some places above window level.
About 9 a.m. on Saturday morning when the Daily Graphic joined a team of government officials and security personnel, including the Police and the Ghana National Fire Service, as well as officials of NADMO, to assess the situation, hundreds of residents were seen moving already destroyed valuables from their rooms.
At the time of the incident, Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, the then Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo; the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije; the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio-Atinga; the Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Sheriff Nii Otto Dodoo; the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Lomotey Tesia; the Director of Operations at the Police Headquarters, ACP Richmond Boi-Bi-Boi; as well as ACP Yohuno, the second-in-command in Accra spent almost the whole day touring areas affected by the flood.
During the tour, a handful of media practitioners who decided to see it all and therefore accompanied the public officials to visit the homes of some of the victims who had either lost relations or valuables, had the impression that something would be done to prevent a similar situation in the subsequent years.
That is the more reason why many of us heaved a sigh of relief when on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 the Daily Graphic carried a front page story headlined “ Govt to Tackle Accra Floods-GH¢2.5m injected into the project”
The story indicated that a massive construction work is to begin that month (July 2009) to overhaul the entire drainage system in Accra, as a way of dealing with the perennial flooding in the national capital “once and for all”.
Towards that project, the government was said to have released GH¢2.5 million to cover the construction, expansion and extension of drains, as well as clearing silt from both major and minor drains to allow the free flow of water when it rains.
In addition, all structures that were on watercourses were supposed to be demolished and owners of those that were put up illegally, investigated and prosecuted.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Hannah Louisa Bisiw explained that “this is an attempt to solve the flood problem once and for all”.
She stated that the funds for the project were made available to the ministry the previous week and expressed the hope that after the work had been completed, Accra would be free from floods.
She again pointed out that the government was aware that apart from Accra, other parts of the country also experienced flooding, and added that the ministry was collaborating with the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that every part of the country was free from flood.
Few weeks after that story was published, drains around the Obetseby Lamptey Circle, Mallam Junction and Darkuman Junction saw some works. That was after the portion of the Kaneshie road which was washed off during the flood had been repaired. Again the drain which ran along the Kaneshie-Obetseby Lamptey Circle road as well as certain areas in Mataheko and Abossey Okai were desilted.
Almost one year after the flood occurred, some of us are yet see any serious work being done prevent the perennial rains this year.
I am saying this because on Saturday, March 20, 2010 an hour of rain in Accra once again brought to the fore the issue of flood. There were radio announcements to the effect that areas like Santa Maria, Awoshie, Osu, Adabraka and Kaneshie were flooded. Again, any regular user of the Graphic Road could bear witness to the fact the Odaw River that runs through the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and crosses the Graphic Road to the Agbogloshie area is almost choked with silt. One could even see green grass and similar bushes growing in parts of the drain. There are occasions that cattle had been seen grazing in the weedy portion. With such a situation, how could large volumes of water which pass through that drain when it rains move fast to sea?
As the rainy season is almost here with us, the question some of us would want to ask is whether residents of Accra and most specially, those living in low laying areas are safe.
That question is important because a recent story by this paper indicated that the southern sector of Ghana (which include Accra) is likely to experience heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms between May and June, according to forecasts by the Ghana Meteorological Agency.
The story stated that some areas in Accra and Kumasi are expected to experience flooding as a result of choked drains and buildings on waterways.
In an interview with the paper, the Principal Meteorological Officer, Togbe Gbegbie Fiamekor I, said the rains some weeks ago in some coastal areas marked the beginning of the rains in the southern sector.
He said Accra recorded 13.8 millimetres; Tema, 17.6 mm; Akatsi, 33.4 mm; Ada, 59.5 mm, and Saltpond, 1.0 mm.
Togbe Fiamekor cautioned that residents of Accra and Kumasi would experience flush floods if they continued to dump refuse into drains.
“Some areas in Accra and Kumasi will experience flush floods if people continue to choke the drains with garbage. People dump garbage indiscriminately into drains. People are not law abiding. If we do not change that mentality we shall always experience flush floods”, he said
Togbe Fiamekor lamented that innocent people might be the victims of the floods.
It is important to observe that either because much has not been done or what has been done is not up to expectation, the President J.E.A. Mills is scheduled to lead the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to launch a “national pre-floods” clean-up campaign in Accra on March 27, this year.
The exercise, which is expected to minimise the effects of floods when they occur, involves clearing drains and bushy areas throughout the country, most especially identified flood-prone areas.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the proposed national clean-up exercise, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of NADMO, Major Nicholas Mensah (retd), said that people from all sections of the Ghanaian society would be mobilised for the exercise.
With this intervention from NADMO, one could easily realise that not much has yet been done toward incident-free rainy season this year and if care is not taken, the problem which had for some time now been confroting us as any nation where lives and properties are lost anytime it rains, will be repeated. Does it mean we have not as yet learnt any lessons?