Death toll now 35 in flood disaster

Thirty-five bodies have so far been retrieved from floodwaters across the country by volunteers and rescue workers who described the havoc after Sunday’s downpour as the worst flood disaster in Ghana’s recent history.

Averaging 24 millimetres (mm) in Accra, 50.1mm and 50.7mm in Tema and Ashaiman respectively and 84.7mm in Pokuase, the volume of the downpour came nowhere near last year’s record figure of 313 mm registered at Kaneshie, according to officials of the Meteorological Agency.

Officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), however, described its tragic aftermath as the worst flood disaster in the country’s recent history.

As of press time Monday, the rescue teams had retrieved 17 bodies from the floods at Ashaiman, two in Tema, one at Dawhenya, four at Nmai Dzorn and 11 in Agona Nyarkrom in the Central Region.

NADMO officials also confirmed that the rains had caused extensive damage to moveable and immovable property at the affected areas and beyond and left hundreds of residents in Ashaiman, Kpone and Dawhenya all in the Tema metropolis, displaced.

Joyfm online, Jun 22nd, 2010