The Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, has said none of the flood disasters that ravaged many communities in several districts of the Central Region Saturday was manmade.
He attributed the situation to climate change, describing it as a ‘downright natural disaster’.
He warned that the country was going to experience more rains in the coming days and, therefore, citizens should desist from building in waterways and improve their sanitation systems.
Mr Prempeh made the observation when together with Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister, Nana Dr Ato Arthur, Head of Local Government Service, officials from the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality and other government officials, visited some affected areas to assess the extent of damage caused by the floods.
The visit was also to offer some support to victims of the disaster.
However, many victims of the floods have debunked his claims and told the GNA that an unannounced spill-over from the Brimsu dam by the Ghana Water Company Limited was the cause of the disaster and called for compensation.
Mr Hugh Hanson, a businessman, who resides at Elmina, said he lost everything and called for support.
Madam Naomi Kakraba, a trader, who was in tears, told the GNA how the water destroyed their belongings and they had to be evacuated by boat to a safer place.
The GNA observed that rivers around the Brimsu dam catchment area and main drains were all chocked with sand and weeds while some people had built on waterways and buffer lands meant for the expansion of roads.
Many homes were flooded, scores of buildings were flattened, hundreds of families have been displaced with one person confirmed dead as a result of the floods and many people were seen trying to salvage their little belongings left.
In addition, some critical roads have been rendered unmotorable by the floods, which destroyed bridges and covered some portions of the road.
Affected communities include Abina, Simiw, Nkontrodo, Atonkwa and Ankaful, Abakam, Kwaprow, Amamoma, CP and Berease and some residents lost everything to the floods.
The team also visited Jukwa, where repair works were ongoing on the bridge linking Cape Coast and Twifo Praso, which was broken into two by the floods.
Mr Prempeh urged citizens to be on guard against imminent disasters.
“It is raining heavily in West Africa., it is expected that flood waters from Burkina Faso will descend to Ghana and so we should all be careful,” he noted.
For her part, Mrs Assan described the scenes as ‘worrying’ and ‘heartbreaking’ and entreated everyone to be very cautious and put immediate measures in place to safeguard their lives and property.
“It is so pathetic, a lot of people have been displaced and we had to rush in quickly. We called on NADMO and the swiftness with which they attended to our distress call is so amazing and so we are very grateful to them.
“But the most critical issue is that one person has lost his life. This is so huge a loss to the whole country,” she said and expressed the government’s commitment to salvage the situation as soon as possible.