By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Some angry residents around the Dome Parakou Estate Junction blocked the road linking Dome-Kwabenya and Okaikoi North major stretch to protest the perennial flooding in the area anytime it rains.
The residents are blaming the current flooding on the poor drainage system constructed some few months ago which was to address the flooding but it has rather worsened the situation.They are of the view that the construction was poorly done this leaving them vulnerable anytime it rains.
A resident explained that the poor and smallish nature of the bridge constructed no long ago makes their rooms get flooded and properties destroyed anytime there is a slight downpour. A resident, who gave his name as Enoch Sarpei speaking to reporters has this to say “It was around 3:30 am that the rain started and the rainwaters came and flooded everywhere. I am a mechanic and I am lucky that there were no cars here when the flood came else it would have spoilt them.
The contractor working on the bridge is to blame. The bridge is too small for the heavy volumes of water that passes through.The contractor or whoever designed it should have raised it but failed to do so and we are begging the authorities to take action and raise the bridge just like it has been done at Alajo and Achimota.”
Meanwhile, the Ga East Municipal Director for the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), one Seth Kofi Osei Kissi said the people living near the area had been asked to move away since the place is a flood prone zone but they have refused to adhere to instruction.
“We have gone there to educate them that the rains will be heavy this year and so they should move away from there because when it rains, it floods there up to window level but they are still living there.” He added
According to him safety education and precautions have been intensified for the people to move away from there which they have persistently resisted.
“I had a distress call around 5:30 am that some residents of Christian Village, a community at the boundary between Dome-Kwabenya and Okaikoi North have blocked the road with containers and barrels and cars were not moving meanwhile that place is a busy point and so there was heavy traffic there in the morning,” he said
It took the intervention of officers from NADMO who engaged the people before they could move the items placed on road to allow traffic to follow.
