Make anti-snake serum available in flood-hit communities - Chief

Togbi Kwaku-Duah III, the Dufia (Chief) of Galo Sota, one of the flooded communities in the Anloga District, has appealed to authorities to make anti-snake serum available in flood-hit areas to avoid deaths.

He said apart from the costly, disruptive and distressing effects of the flooding to affected communities, the people in areas including Galo Sota were also at risk of venomous snake bites and would require the supply of this and other medications, to forestall deaths.

Togbi Kwaku-Duah III spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), when the leadership of the National Democratic Congress visited the community after a brief ceremony at Sogakope, in South Tongu, to donate relief items worth about GH¢1.5 million on behalf of the Flagbearer and former President John Dramani Mahama to 11 districts in Volta and Eastern Regions experiencing flooding.

He noted that the rising flood waters could displace wildlife, including snakes that could seek shelter and food inside houses, storage sheds and buildings, and it was important for the state to stand ready to save the situation should it arise.

The flooding at Galo Sota, Anloga just like being experienced in communities in the three neighbouring Tongu Districts, the hardest hit, was occasioned by the Akosombo Dam Spillage, initiated to address the rising water levels, which posed a significant threat to the dam.

Some community members who spoke to GNA expressed their frustration and said that they appreciated the relief items being sent to them and they wanted an action to be taken to stop the flooding.

“We must struggle to even prepare akple (a meal) because there are hardly dry spaces to place our coal pots to cook. All of this is confusing to me,” an old lady complained.

Madam Juliana Awudi, a flood victim, said it was the first time they were experiencing such a flooding in the community which had compelled some fishermen to sometimes volunteer their canoes to carry vulnerable people including the aged and persons with disabilities, from their homes to other parts of the flooded community.

She pleaded with the authorities to stop the spillage and find other means to pump the water out of their homes and communities.