General News of Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Source: GNA

Dormaa Ahenkro hit by floods

Dormaa Ahenkro (B/A) Sept. 25, GNA- Torrential rains in Dormaa Ahenkro last Monday caused rivers and other water bodies to burst their banks, making the town, capital of the Dormaa District, inaccessible to outlying towns and villages.

Major towns cut off by the floods were Nkrankwanta, Amasu, Kwameasua and Asikasu.

Even though no casualties have been reported, many mud houses in low-lying areas of the town and many acres of crops including maize, plantain, cocoyam and sugar cane have been destroyed. Displaced families who lost personal properties running into millions of Ghana cedis were putting up with friends and relatives. Squadron Leader Ben Anane-Asamoah (rtd), District Chief Executive (DCE), accompanied by staff of the district office of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), toured the affected areas and sympathized with the victims.

He, however, advised the people in the district to stop putting up structures in waterways and drains, obstructing the free flow of running water.

The DCE urged the affected persons not to let the disaster dampen their spirits but to rather pool their individual and communal resources to ensure their early and rehabilitation.

Squadron Leader Anane-Asamoah pledged the Assembly's support for the victims to enable them to shake off the trauma and to enable them to continue with their economic activities.

Mr. Kwadwo Asare-Bediako, deputy district coordinator of NADMO, said the floods accrued partly because of indiscriminate waste disposal and non-compliance of the people to environmental bye laws of the Assembly.

He advised residents of flood-prone areas in the district to be on the alert for any such disaster.