Last weekend’s rain did not fall differently from the rains we have always known.
What changed was Ghana’s readiness.
In a few hours, Samreboi in the Western Region and Cape Coast in the Central Region were turned into ponds where buildings and trees became islands.
A 20-month-old child’s life was lost in Cape Coast, and three women were injured.
In Samreboi, hundreds of homes were displaced, more than 24 houses collapsed, farms were destroyed, and classrooms became shelters.
These are not just weather stories.
They are warning signs.
Flooding is no longer confined to “flood-prone” areas.
This year, the water has pushed into places that never saw it before.
If we keep reacting after disasters, the next rain will write the same headline.
Samreboi’s tragedy was man-made before it became natural. The Samre and Tano rivers overflowed their banks after downpours upstream. But residents and officials agree: the rain in Samreboi itself was not extraordinary.
The difference is years of uncontrolled illegal mining or galamsey in forest reserves and riverbeds.
Galamsey operations blocked and changed the course of tributaries. At the peak of illegal mining, miners dammed parts of the Tano River so excavators could cross.
That “temporary” blockage became a permanent snag.
Now, when water comes down from adjoining districts, it hits that blockage, backs up, and spills into homes and farmlands.
Samreboi proves a hard truth: environmental destruction is a flood multiplier.
Every tree cut, every riverbank dug up, every channel blocked turns rain into a weapon against the poor.
Cape Coast is a historic city, a university town, and a tourism hub. It should not lose lives and livelihoods every time it rains.
The death of a 20-month-old child among others is a national shame that should shake us out of complacency.
Samreboi and Cape Coast look different, but they teach the same lesson: Ghana is not managing water; water is managing us. Environmental damage turns rain deadly.
In Samreboi, galamsey blocked rivers.
Across the country, wetlands are filled, green spaces are concreted, and river buffers are built on.
When we destroy nature’s flood defences, we must build human ones.
We are not doing that. Infrastructure cannot lag behind growth.
Cape Coast’s drains cannot carry the volume of runoff from a growing city.
Roads are built, houses spring up, but drainage is an afterthought.
We plan for cars and shops, but not for water. Water does not negotiate. It finds the lowest point.
Climate is changing; systems are not. Rainfall patterns are becoming more intense and less predictable.
Yet our city plans, building permits, and enforcement remain stuck in old assumptions.
The wave sweeping the country this year is extending into “previously less prone areas” because those areas are now more exposed.
The corporate partners, such as Samatex, deserve credit for rapid response.
Food, water, mattresses and security have been deployed.
That is important. However, Ghana must move from rescue to prevention.
Government must intensify the clampdown on galamsey and begin immediate restoration of riverbanks and forest reserves in Samreboi and similar areas.
Metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in Cape Coast and across Ghana must treat drains as critical infrastructure, not an afterthought.
Desilting must be done before the rains set in, not during the season.
Building permits must be tied to proper drainage plans.
Developers who block watercourses must be penalised, no matter their status.
Uncontrolled development is flooding by design. District assemblies must stop approving buildings on watercourses and wetlands.
Political interference in planning must end.
A house on a watercourse is a future disaster.
We must say no to the indiscriminate siting of buildings.
Flooding costs Ghana more than money. It costs lives, school days, farm yields, and investor confidence.
A child who dies in a flood in Cape Coast and a farmer who loses everything in Samreboi are both victims of the same national failure to plan.
To the government and assemblies, the rainy season is here.
The time for committees and studies is over.
Desilt drains now.
Open blocked channels now.
Demolish illegal structures on watercourses now.
Support communities such as Samreboi to restore their rivers now.
We cannot stop the rain, but we can stop making rain deadly.
We ask: Will we learn this time?
We have the knowledge, the institutions, and the resources to reduce flooding.
What we need is political will and public discipline.
Let last weekend’s floods be the last time we are surprised by rain.
Until the drains flow and the rivers run free, every cloud is a threat.
Let us choose prevention over mourning.
