Ghana Meteo Agency Warns Of Rainstorm On Friday, July 16
The Ghana Meteorological Agency has issued a notice to the general public warning of an impending rainstorm over the Gulf of Guinea that will be felt on mainland Ghana.
The notice was issued at 10 am on Friday, July 16, and it was signed by Frederick Quaytey Cudjoe, a meteorologist at the agency.
The statement read:
A rainstorm observed today July 16, 2021 over the sea (Gulf of Guinea) at 0900 UTC is expected to move westwards and induce cloudiness with thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rains over the coastal areas, and parts of Southern Ghana (Volta, Greater Accra, Eastern and Ashanti regions), between the hours of 1200 UTC and 1800 UTC (12:00 PM to 6:00 PM).
The statement also warned that places within the Bono East, Bono, Ahafo and other regions up north will also likely be affected between 2:00 PM and 10:00 PM.
This forecast comes with a 70% degree of certainty, the agency has warned.
Deadly floods
The rainy season in Ghana has proven to be a deadly period for Accra, the country’s most populous and biggest commercial city.
Over half a decade since the worst man-made disaster in recent memory hit Accra, one struggles to find evidence that authorities and the general citizenry have learned any lessons at all.
Ghanaians home and abroad woke up on the morning of June 4 to the news that the previous night had occasioned a fuel station fire which has been made worse by a flood at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in the heart of the city. The fire had started at the station but the flood made it worse.
It took days to realise the full extent of damage to life and property. These are lives and livelihoods we will not see in full swing again. By official counts, the inferno had taken the lives of a little over 200 people, about two times the number that died in the May 9 Accra Stadium stampede in 2001.
But in many ways, we already knew what caused the flood. Hordes of frustrated Ghanaians may not be able to tell you how the fire started and why it travelled as unforgivingly as it did. But the floods? We knew.
And if the National Fire Service boss at the time was right about what made the fire worse, then the layman on the streets in Accra already understood the most important aspect of the puzzle: we tackle the flooding and we save lives.
In polite and elite language, the committee concluded that the overflow of the nearby Odaw River (because it was choked with litter) and the blockage of the Korle Lagoon interceptor (with litter) caused the flood. In simple terms, we had sanitation and infrastructure problems to attend to.
As many know, political rhetoric and showmanship are at their loudest right after disasters. The aftermath of June 3 was no different. Take a look at these three responses from political authority and ask yourself how far these responses have actually mitigated flooding in Accra.