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| Floods Hit Accra |
3/29/2007 |
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The prayer of many residents in Accra for rainfall to reduce the high temperature was answered yesterday, but it came with bad news, as some residents, particularly traders, suffered the loss of their wares.
Traders at the Pedestrian Shopping Mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle were seriously affected, as the drains in the area overflowed their banks and flooded the market and, in the process, damaged their goods valued at millions of cedis.
The rain also sent many of the traders packing home as their wares were washed away, while those who managed to salvage their wares sent them to the warehouses for safekeeping.
Some of the wooden sheds put up by the traders were also destroyed. A section of a school block in the premises of the Evangel Assemblies of God Church on the Kojo Thompson Road collapsed.
An official of the Meteorological Services Agency at the Kotoka International Airport, Mr Amos Narh, said Ghanaians should expect such storms, since it was the beginning of the rainy season.
He said such rainstorms were accompanied by flush floods because the waterways were choked and needed to be desilted.
Mr Narh said weak structures, especially roofs, were bound to be affected by such rainstorms and advised the public to take precaution as they went about their businesses.
He said the rains, which started in the Volta Region at about 9.00 a.m., moved westwards through the Central and Western regions, saying they were likely to affect the Brong Ahafo Region.
One of the victims of the rains at the Pedestrian Shopping Mall, Ms Ashaide Tetteh, appealed to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to cover the drain behind the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) Tower at Circle or raise the walls of the drains to prevent the market from being flooded.
In order to avoid being trapped in the flood, many drivers packed their vehicles by the roadside until the rains subsided.
That, to a large extent, eased the traffic situation in the central business district and other parts of Accra. The activities of street hawkers were also curtailed as they rushed out of the streets for shelter.
Many pedestrians had to take cover under structures, while others who were not that fortunate were soaked by the rain.
The rains, which were accompanied by strong winds, also uprooted some trees and caused damage to some structures.
The streets of Accra were not spared, as the filth dumped in the drains were flushed onto the streets by the water. Large quantities of sand were also washed onto the streets from the drains.
The traffic congestion which had become associated with most streets in Accra, especially on the Graphic Road, also vanished as motorists took cover for fear of their cars being swept away.
It was only at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle that stagnant water had still engulfed the roundabout at the time the Daily Graphic team visited the scene.
The Meteorological Services offices at Legon and the Kotoka International Airport recorded 71.2 and 39.7 millimetres of rains respectively.
Source:
Graphic
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