Accra floods, go away!
By: Benjamin Mensah
The rains have started throughout the country. The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) says this year's rainy season would last longer and be torrential. Once again Accra, which is prone to floods, might suffer loss of property and human life since little has been done to construct more drainage systems and demolish structures in watercourses.
Already, the Accident Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KTH) was temporarily closed down after a downpour on the night of 14 April 2003, which flooded the place. This necessitated all accident cases to be referred to other hospitals within the Metropolis.
Though drainage systems have been constructed in some areas in the city to solve the perennial flooding, other places would, however, continue to be affected because either action is yet to be taken or ongoing works are yet to be completed.
Over the years, inadequate drainage infrastructure and the lack of enforcement of planning regulations, coupled with rapid urbanisation has caused severe flooding in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), particularly in the Odaw Basin, the most developed area of the Metropolis.
Because of the several conflicting factors influencing the establishment of settlements, floods cannot totally be avoided. It is also unfortunate that institutions charged to prevent floods have been constrained by inadequate financing, logistics and capacity.
Accra and its environs have experienced at least eight floods of a total of 1084.2 millilitres of rain, since 1963, in which at least 19 lives were recorded lost. Of these, the July 3, 1995 flood, which lasted for 12 hours, recorded the highest rainfall. It measured 243 millilitres. No lives were recorded lost, but the damage of the Kpeshie Bridge, which necessitated a detour of vehicles using the Accra-Tema beach road to the Spintex bye-pass, cannot be forgotten. The same flood incident damaged the roads in Kaneshie and Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
A year earlier, Accra had lost eight lives to a flood of 58.9 millilitres in 36 hours between May 26 and June 6. The deluge damaged the newly established Paloma Shopping Arcade, and a taxi unfortunately plunged into the Alajo drain.
Also on May 4, 1986, Accra recorded 69.3 millilitres of rain. Three people died. Kwame Nkrumah Circle was most affected, and a $10m telephone switching equipment of the then Post and Telecommunication Corporation was destroyed.
Oh floods, you've disturbed us for a long time. Residents of Accra in unison are chanting "Flood, flood, go away. Go away, and come no more. Accra residents want to be free." But, how well is Accra prepared to face any heavy rains so that the floods would come no more?
Granted that the floods cannot totally be eliminated; their extent and the level of destruction can be minimised. Over the years a number of committees have often been established soon after floods had come. Ironically, one often does not hear of the committees after the end of the rainy season, until another one comes, then another committee surfaces. If these committees have been very functional and survived one flood till another came, perhaps effective actions could have minimised the effects of the floods.
It is, therefore, expected that the activities of the 26-member GAMA Anti Flood Committee, set up by Government would really reduce floods in the Accra-Tema Metropolis.
On 13 March 2003, the immediate past Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu led a team of Ministers of State including Works and Housing, Environment and the Greater Accra Regional Minister to inaugurate the Committee.
The Committee is to mount sustained educational and publicity campaigns for residents within 31 metres of the drainage system or flood prone areas, notably at Avenor, Kpehe, Alajo, Abelemkpe and Mamobi.
It would also monitor the rainfall pattern and be ready to give order for evacuation of persons before severe floods occur; set up emergency disaster centres ready to deal with any flood situation and carry out other incidental activities to floods.
The Committees as a first step has done a geographical survey of flood prone areas in Accra and Tema. It came out that the GAMA covers a total land area of about 3,962 square kilometres, has 10 major drainage basins which eventually discharge flood water into the Gulf of Guinea, through some eight terminal lagoons. Administratively the area falls under the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the Tema Municipal Assembly and the Ga District Assembly.
The 10 major drainage basins are the Densu, Lafa, Chemu West, Odaw, Osu Klottey, Kpeshie/Kordjor, Sango, Mukwe, Sakumo and Chemu East. A document the GAMA made available to the GNA noted that the flood prone areas within the GAMA are Weija Town, Oblogo and parts of Sowutuom, Santa Maria, Anyaa and Awoshie, Mamponse and Torgbui Kope.
Others are Odawna, Circle, Asylum Down, Avenor, Alajo, Abelemkpe, Abofun, Kisseiman, Agbogba, Haatso, New Achimota, Dome and Taifa. Within the Osu Klottey Catchment Area, the American Embassy and the Laminex Area are prone to floods.
The black spots in the Kpeshie, Kordjor and Mukwe Catchment Areas are Naapradjor, Camp Two, La-T Junction, Nungua Brigade, A-Life Area, Greda Estates, Teshie Nii Dzor, Tsui Bleo and Baatsonaa.
In Sakumo East, Madina Maye Hot, Ashale Botchwey, Adama, Tema Communities 18, 19, and 20 are prone to floods, with Tema New Town being the flood danger zone in Chemu East.
The Committee as an immediate measure had from April 6, 2003 commenced public education for residents at Awoshie, Madina Maye Hot, Achimota-Legon Taxi Rank, Alajo Park, the Faith Cathedral and Wolarko Hotel at Mataheko, Teshie Camp Two and the Ashaiman School Park, near the Daben Clinic.
It has also identified safe havens to cater for displaced persons. These havens are the Dansoman SSNIT Flats, Madina Police Station, Achimota School Park, Tesano Police Depot and Kpeshie Police Station.
As a long-term measure, the second phase of an 11-million-euro construction project, is also underway on the Odaw stream. The project, which stretches from Avenor to Alajo, is receiving funding from the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD).
The ongoing reconstruction work on the Odaw channel is likely to impose severe conditions on settlements located upstream of the Caprice Bridge on the Circle-Achimota road. The prospects for flooding in such areas as Avenor, Alajo, Abelemkpe, Abofun, Kisseiman, Agbogba, Haatso, Dome and Taifa are quite high. It is, therefore, in the interest, and not too demanding for residents and households living 30 metres from the Odaw stream to heed the advice of Baah-Wiredu, to move away to save themselves and their property.
Households that had experienced floods in recent years should also move further away to avoid possible havoc during the rains. Other long term intervention plans include the NEDECO feasibility of storage/diversion of the Onyasia/Odaw Stream, NEDECO Drainage Master Plan for Accra; Mott Macdonalds Drainage Master Plan; SNC Lavalin Preliminary Engineering and Detail Design Study and Carl BRO preliminary design for the construction of a flood protection dyke near Kisseiman.
The heavy downpour that necessitated the closure of the Korle Bu Accident Centre shows that the MSD is not crying wolf with its warning of heavy and long rains. Man, in a way cannot remove natural factors leading to floods, but what each resident in the GAMA does is a major determinant factor in reducing floods and their effects.
Aside from the uncontrollable natural factors, indiscipline is a major factor leading to the high level of flood damage in the Accra. Godfrey Ewool, Chairman of the GAMA Anti-Flood Committee, at a recent press conference in Accra condemned the illegal, callous and uncouth practice of building in waterways.
Also, he raised a serious alarm on throwing refuse and other unwanted materials into waterways, creating silt, choking them impeding free flow of water. He called on the institutions responsible to check these practices to heighten efforts to deal with recalcitrant residents.
Already 1,000 people have been arrested for prosecution for defecating and emptying unwanted materials into the drains, GNA has learned from the Accra Metropolitan Authority. Some are already in jail.
The Authority has also formed a task force to arrest anyone found defecating or throwing refuse into the drains and asked the public for its support. This is no easy task, for the taskforce is already being threatened, to the extent that, one of their vehicles is reported to have been vandalized.
May be the Authority's plan of filming people who "do it" and throw unwanted materials into the drains and show them on television or publish their pictures in the newspapers would do the trick. Administratively, "Accra is too big to govern", Solomon Ofei Darko the Accra Mayor said in an interview with the GNA. He added that a bill had, therefore, been placed before Parliament to divide the Accra Metropolitan Area, into 13 sub districts. The move is to decongest city.
He said the Metropolis has a population of three million, with half a million floating population moving in everyday. The heavy population puts pressures on the city's resources, including the drains.
Ofei Darko said the new Bill gives legal backing to the creation of new town councils for effective administration and would give impetus to develop deprived and rural areas of Accra and make them attractive for people to move to those areas and reduce the pressure on the city's resources.
It is expected that effective administration, coupled with meaningful activities of GAMA and all concerned citizens would help reduce the floods and the level of destruction they cause.
GRi…/
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