The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah has inspected the situation in some communities in the Ahanta West Municipality (AWMA) and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis (STMA) of the Region which was hard hit by a flood after a heavy downpour on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.
The inspection was to enable the Minister and his team to ascertain the cause and the impact of the flooding and also to commiserate with the affected personns.
At the inspection, he mentioned that his office was ever ready to make sure every road and highway becomes accessible for safe transportation especially, in this difficult time of the flood.
He noted that the major work to be done to find lasting solutions to the menace was construction work which would need a proper design.
However, he said, in the meantime, he will call the engineers in a meeting for a temporary solution to make sure that there was free movement of vehicles throughout the rainy season.
The Minister who identified some of the engineering problems in the communities tasked the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Ahanta West Municipality to deploy his engineers to access the situation and come out with swift and effective measures to curtail the problem.
Mr Darko-Mensah was accompanied by the MCE for the Ahanta West Municipality, Mr John Agyare, District Chief Executive (DCE) of Mpohor, Mr Ignatius Asaah Mensah, Western Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Abdul Ganiyu and some officials from the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and AWMA.
The team visited the St Mary’s Boys Senior High School stretch of the Agona Ahanta road, the Apowa community, Airport Ridge and Race Course areas.
The heavy downpour of rain caused a huge outflow of water unto the road at the St Mary’s Boys Senior High School stretch of the Agona Ahanta road. This compelled drivers to use roots from Apremdo inside before reaching Apowa.
The hopes of passengers who wanted to get a vehicle from Takoradi to Agona Ahanta, Bogoso, Axim, Tarkwa and Elubo among others were also dashed after several hours of rain as vehicles plying these routes were stopped at Ewusijoe due to flooding.
Water had taken over the road linking Apowa to Agona Ahanta and the drivers were not able to make their way through the running water leaving passengers to their fate at the lorry stations.
In an interview with the Regional NADMO Coordinator, he commended the Minister for going out to assess the situation and said there was no casualty recorded so far.
He told the IGOGHANA that they identified small receptive drains in the area which makes it difficult to receive the quantum of water that passes through the area and said the drains needed to be expanded to be able to contain the measure of water that runs through the area.
He lamented the situation where swampy areas at the Race Course have been issued with permits to put up buildings on them making it difficult to allow the free flow of water in the area and contributing to the flood situation.
The NADMO Coordinator, therefore, advised the people to be careful whenever it rains to avoid disaster during the rainy season.
