President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that about 48,000 people have been displaced while 12 others have been confirmed dead following the devastating floods that hit parts of southern Ghana after a heavy downpour earlier this week.
Speaking during a joint press briefing with the visiting President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, at the Jubilee House, President Mahama said the floods severely affected Accra and other coastal regions, leaving thousands homeless and causing extensive destruction.
According to him, the heavy rainstorm was part of a larger weather system that affected several West African countries, including Gabon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
“Accra and the coastal regions were inundated severely by a heavy rainstorm which affected not only Ghana but several countries, all the way from Gabon through Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and up to Côte d’Ivoire. We estimate that about 48,000 people were rendered homeless by the downpour, 12 are confirmed dead and seven are still unaccounted for,” he said.
President Mahama announced that the government has directed the Ghana Armed Forces and the Joint Task Force to immediately mobilise personnel to restore normalcy by clearing blocked waterways, removing debris and cleaning affected communities.
“We’ve asked the military and the Joint Task Force to immediately mobilise to bring things back to normal as quickly as possible. The army has started mobilising to key points to clear the waterways and clear the garbage and debris that was thrown all over the city by the rainfall,” he stated.
The President expressed optimism that normalcy would be restored within the next one to two weeks.
He further revealed that the Minister for Finance has released funds from the contingency fund to support both emergency relief and flood mitigation efforts.
According to him, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and other agencies will soon begin distributing relief items, including blankets, mattresses, tents, towels and other essential supplies to families displaced by the floods.
President Mahama made the remarks while welcoming Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, who paid a solidarity visit to Ghana to commiserate with the government and people over the loss of lives and destruction caused by the floods.
He thanked President Bio and the people of Sierra Leone for their message of sympathy, describing the visit as a demonstration of the African spirit of solidarity in times of hardship.
The two leaders also held bilateral discussions ahead of the upcoming ECOWAS Summit in Freetown, where they discussed regional security and other key issues on the agenda.
