The Volta River Authority has begun a major disinfection and fumigation exercise at Mepe in the North Tongu district as the floods, following the spillage of the Akosombo Dam, recede.

The exercise, which is being carried out in collaboration with Zoomlion, is to allow residents who would want to return to their homes when the flooding situation is over to do so.

Briefing the media ahead of the exercise, Mr Divine Fenu, District Chief Executive of North Tongu, said the exercise was being carried out as there were concerns that some affected victims in the camps were beginning or trying to move back to their homes.

He said besides the disinfection and fumigation, the assembly engineers would also carry out a structural integrity test on the buildings to ensure they were in good condition for habitation.

"So we need to do the decontamination of these houses. And then, we are saying that we have to do some structural inspection of those buildings even after the fumigation to see whether those buildings are good enough for people to just move in."

Mr Kwame Mensah Darkwa, Engineering Preparedness Plan Coordinator, VRA, said the areas that had the floods significantly reduced were mapped out and an area view was conducted to give an appreciation of the extent of the decline of the water.

"So, we've had a fair idea of areas that were free of water and that is necessary for us to start some form of fumigation and decontamination to make the place safe for habitation," he said.

"So we are looking at starting the exercise around the st Kizito area with the assistance of the assemblyman and the health inspector of the assembly. We can demarcate all the other areas and then carry out the exercise successfully," he added.

Mr King Jonas Wonder, Vector Control Officer, Zoomlion, said because most places had been contaminated the team would undertake disinfection and fumigation.

"We realise that most of the households have been polluted. So, we have a chlorine and hydrogen peroxide base disinfectant that we'll be using to do the disinfection, then we follow up with fumigation as some of the places have mosquitoes and then reptiles," he said.

He said the exercise would target individual households, surfaces, and then the whole compound.

Some residents of Mepe welcomed the initiative and expressed the hope they would soon return to their homes.

However, those whose homes were destroyed expressed anxiety about resources to build new ones.

VRA began spilling excess water from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on September 15, leading to the Volta River overflowing its banks, and leaving some downstream communities flooded.