Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, has lamented the devastating impact of heavy downpour in Ho.
According to him, the downpour which occurred on Saturday, July 8, 2023, lasted for barely two hours but its impact has been dire. He revealed the exact estimate of damages incurred by businesses and homes cannot be ascertained.
Nonetheless, Dr Letsa stated that the figures on displaced persons will be available today, July 10, 2023, as assessment is still being undertaken by NADMO.
“We have many businesses that have been adversely affected, we’ve had many homes that were flooded and we have many buildings and walls that collapsed and the assessment is still being done by NADMO and the municipal assembly.”
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa
Additionally, Dr Letsa explained that a team from the hydrology department from the ministry of works and housing is expected to come and assist with the estimates. However, he expressed the need for residents in Ho to be prudent in waste management and disposal.
“I think that we will have to look at our behavior in terms of waste disposal, and the whole of the assembly in issuing building permit orders to people. Because you realize that many buildings were on the waterways and the assembly is going to start taking some action in order to clear the waterway so that when we have another rain, what happened on Saturday will not happen again.”
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa
Floods attributed to human behavior and activities
Commenting on whether floods in the capital have intensified over the years, Dr Letsa stated that it has not been a recurring phenomenon. With this, he attributed the flood partly to human behaviors and activities.
“… Once a while, we have this situation in the municipality which we try to address. It’s about drainage, blockage of drains, building on waterways… It’s the volume of the rain and how heavy the downpour was. It was very heavy and I was in church and the rainfall was very heavy and within an hour, the whole area was flooded. So, it depends on the how heavy the rains were…”
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa
Moreover, the Volta regional minister underscored that the intensity of floods, can equally be attributed to the volume of water, capacity of the drains and whether these drains are not choked to necessitate free flow of water.
That notwithstanding, he iterated that since Saturday evening, NADMO, along with the municipal assembly, hydrology department of the ministry of works and housing, and security agencies, especially fire service, have been trying to assess the situation and prescribe the appropriate measures to address them.
“There are many factors, but I experienced the rain and it was very heavy… No lives lost so far.”
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa
Elaborating on the impact of human behavior in recent floods in the capital, Dr Letsa relatively disagreed with the suggestion that residents have been reckless in disposing waste. He justified that Ho has been known to be “very clean and we refer to it as the oxygen city of Ghana”.
“We have managed to keep the environment very clean and sometimes when we don’t do things right, once in a while, we will be exposed. So, we will have to learn from this, study the situation, find out what the problems were and try to address them with the municipal assembly.”
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa
Dr Letsa revealed that floods are a generic phenomenon and not peculiar to Ho; As such, relevant authorities will assess the situation and come up with the appropriate measures.
“We are only worried that if we should have another downpour, we may be in trouble. So, yesterday, when it started drizzling we were scared, but nothing untoward happened. So, we are hoping that the assembly will get into action, take some steps to clear the ways and we believe that if that is done, even if there’s a heavy downpour, we will not have the same situation occurring.”
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa
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