The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, has cautioned residents living in flood-prone areas to adhere to National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) by vacating to family members during rainy season.
“Those who stay in flood-prone areas should always have a Plan B; You should move to your sister’s or brother’s place whenever it starts raining for at least two weeks or more, so when the rain subsides you come back home,” he said.
“If you have to travel in the rain make sure it is an essential travel; if you don’t have to, do not go,” he added.
He also admonished drivers to avoid using outer lanes when driving, especially, during this rainy season.
“Drivers should use their lanes. This business of drivers using the outer lanes all the time when it is raining is not proper. Yesterday about 8 out of 10 cars slid into the gutters because they used the outer lane,” he said.
Mr. Darko Mensah said this while touring the receded flooded area with officials from the NADMO on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2022 morning.
According to the Regional Minister, the massive Tuesday flooding on the Takoradi-Agona-Nkwanta was caused by an engineering problem around the St. Mary’s Secondary School.
“The rainfall patterns have also changed, so the volumes have also increased and that is a major thing we have to look at, the climate change issue, as a country. We need huge storm drains so that we can get the water into the river,” he said.
However, he noted that the requirements are huge and so temporary measures will be put in place to manage the situation.
“This is a huge investment and for now, we can look at the immediate measures,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Regional NADMO Officer, Abdul Ganiyu said the relevant stakeholders will meet to deliberate on ways to address the issue and begin work immediately.
Background
Passengers and motorists who used the Takoradi-Agona-Nkwanta highway on Tuesday, June 21st, had a difficult time on the Apremdo-Apowa stretch due to flooding and heavy vehicular traffic.
The rains caused the St. Mary’s Seminary section of the highway to flood, leading to a vehicular movement difficulty, with some vehicles overturning as they attempted to maneuver in the flood.