Flooding: Korle Klottey Assembly assesses damages

The Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly says it is currently taking stock to ascertain the cost of damage caused by Tuesday’s flooding.

Mr Samuel Adjei Tawiah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said preliminary assessment carried out by the Assembly, showed that many residents have been affected by the Tuesday dawn downpour and would require assistance to get their lives back to normal.

He, however, added that the full cost of the damage would only be known after the National Disaster Management Organisation (NaDMO) has completed its assessment of the situation after which the Assembly would provide some relief to affected residents.

“From what we have gathered so far, it has affected so many residents in the constituency or municipality and it is a very sad situation. “We have assessed the situation but the NaDMO team is still on the ground and so they will be doing the damage cost and we will get to know in due course but it is very clear from our assessment that so many people have lost their appliances.

“We have also lost a constituent and that’s a very sad situation here,” he said.

The Klottey Assembly is known to be one of the areas often affected when it comes to flooding in the country.

On June 3, 2015, the Assembly experienced one of the worst flooding disasters in the country’s history when 150 persons lost their lives in a flood-fire disaster at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

Touching on measures put in place to curb subsequent flooding in the area, Mr Tawiah said, Government through the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, is constructing two storm drains at the Odawna Garages and the Pedestrian Shopping Mall. He said though not fully completed, this has helped greatly in reducing the impact of the flooding in the area.

“Before this morning’s rain, we have experienced some rainfall but due to the construction of these drains we were able to manage the situation better and I am optimistic that before next year’s rains the drains would have been completed and things would be better,” he assured.

Mr Tawiah also appealed to residents to avoid dumping refuse indiscriminately into drains to allow for free flow of running water. Meanwhile, some Assembly Members within the municipality have called on the relevant authorities to expedite work on major drainage systems within the area to ensure that the situation was brought under control.

Mr Kina Hendrick, the Assemblyman for Odawna Sahara, also called on the city authorities to immediately step in and assist them to get rid of the debris that had been deposited in the area due to the flooding to avert any unforeseen health concerns.