President John Dramani Mahama said on Wednesday the government is reviewing existing flood mitigation measures and assessing additional interventions following the devastating floods that recently affected several communities in Ghana.
Speaking during a National Security meeting on the aftermath of the disaster, the President said the review is aimed at strengthening the country’s response to increasingly severe flooding driven by climate change and rapid urbanisation.
“We are therefore reviewing the measures taken so far and assessing additional interventions that need to be implemented going forward,” he said.
Mr. Mahama noted that while flooding has become a recurring challenge in Ghana, the recent incident was among the worst the country has experienced, partly due to increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change.
He said the growing expansion of Accra has also worsened the situation, with many waterways and flood retention areas being encroached upon for development.
“The increasing demand for land to build has resulted in encroachment on areas that were originally reserved for the passage and containment of water,” he stated.
The President reiterated that the Ghana Armed Forces have been tasked to support flood mitigation efforts, while the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and other state agencies continue to provide relief to affected communities.
According to him, government had already established a task force before the floods to undertake preventive measures, including dredging some waterways.
However, he said the amount of rainfall recorded during the recent downpour exceeded the capacity of the existing mitigation measures.
To strengthen the response, Mr. Mahama announced that the Minister for Finance has released funds from the contingency fund to support additional flood mitigation works. Enditem
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