Suhum, April 12, GNA - About 105 pupils of the Orphanage School Complex at Trotor near Suhum, escaped unhurt when the entire classroom block, office and store was raised down by heavy rainstorm which hit the area on Sunday April 1, 2007.

Rev. Victor Ofori-Amoah founder and proprietor of the school disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency and the Assemblyman for the area, Mr. Ayisi Amening during inspection of the building and said the pupils were in the classroom during the rainstorm but had to run into the dining hall before the near disaster.

Items destroyed included 57 mono-desks, books, electrical gargets, ceiling fans, teachers tables, three computers and two coloured television sets estimated at over 20 million cedis. The Assemblyman, Mr. Ayisi who expressed his sympathy to the management of the school, appealed to the school authorities to plant more trees on the compound to serve as wind-breaks to avoid future occurrences. He expressed concerned about the indiscriminately falling of timber trees in the area by some chain saw operators who have evaded the area and are destroying the forest and appealed to the district assembly and the forestry task force to halt the activities of those people. In another development, 65 people were rendered homeless at Asuboi near Suhum when a severe rainstorm hit the town and its surroundings with 22 houses and properties destroyed.

According to the Secretary of the unit committee, Mr. Emmanuel Kwame Amo, the rains, which lasted for almost four hours also destroyed food crops mostly plantain and cassava and some rivers in the area over flowing their banks, making it difficult for farmers to cross to their farms. He said even though some of the victims have rehabilitated their houses, others are putting up with friends and relatives and appealed to the Disaster Management Organization NANMO to come to the aid of the victims. 12 April, 2007