At least 24 die in Ghana floods

Several reports from the Eastern, Central and Volta regions says large swathes of land are under water with a number of communities cut from the rest of the country. Much of the urban flooding has been blamed on the illegal construction of buildings on open drains and waterways.

Several roads, including the Accra-Tema motorway, a major link to the east of Ghana from the capital, have been flooded, as the rain continues to fall. A bridge linking Ghana and neighboring Togo on the eastern corridor collapsed during the heavy downpour, cutting off travelers from the two West African countries.

Flooding caused by heavy rains has killed at least 24 people, destroying homes and washing out roads, emergency officials in the West African country said on Monday. The worst affected structures were school buildings and a portion of a sports stadium in Agona Swedru, Frank Abban, an assembly member from the area, told the media later on Monday.

Appealing to the government to provide reliefs and shelters for the effected residents, Abban said that about 1,000 houses have been destroyed by the rains which started at 1230 GMT and lasted for 5 hours on Sunday.

Eleven bodies were found in around the capital Accra and another 13 elsewhere in the country, said Kofi Portuphy, coordinator of the National Disaster Committee.

Many others were feared dead as search and rescue crews continued getting reports of missing people following two days of downpours.

Police in Accra said some residents climbed trees as their homes were swept away. Eyewitnesses elsewhere say some people are trapped on top of their houses that are under water, while their properties have been lost. A twelve-bedroom house totally collapsed and about 40 occupants now have no shelter.

Also carried away by the flood were commercial items including bags of rice, cement, sugar, flour and personal belongings, running into thousands of GH Cedis.

Many rivers have burst their banks and have taken over communities. The 10-hour downpour destroyed properties worth millions of U. S. dollars while thousands of residents had been rendered homeless by the torrential rains as a number of houses were submerged in the low area of Tema.

The Meteorological Services Agency is yet to give details of the volume of the rain and the police are yet to confirm reports of casualties.

Seasonal rains in West Africa, which tend to start in June and last until October, often cause deadly floods. Ghana experiences perennial flooding, but affected people say this is the worst they have seen in recent memory.

West Africa's yearly rainy season often leads to deadly floods. In 2009, flooding killed more than 100 people and displaced more than 2.5 million others in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Benin, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Ghana is one of the region's top economies, the world's second biggest supplier of cocoa and Africa's second largest gold miner.

Source:
Reuters, "At least 24 die in Ghana floods", accessed June 21, 2010