Some drainage systems washed away
Some drainage systems washed away

Parts of Tamale, Sagnarigu submerged in floods

A heavy downpour last Friday night submerged parts of the Tamale metropolis and the Sagnarigu municipality, displacing hundreds of households.

However, there has not been any report of casualty.

The downpour, which lasted about six hours, also caused damage to an unspecified number of properties, while a number of cars, tricycles and motorbikes were swept away as sections of roads were completely taken over by the flood water.

Checks by the Daily Graphic indicate that areas including Gumani, Kanvili, Tuunayili, Jisonayili, Kunyevila and Nyohini were severely affected.

There was pandemonium at Gumani, as the main road linking Kanvili and Tuunayili was submerged by the flood water.

Displaced persons

Hundreds of residents who were affected by the flood in different parts of the metropolis are currently putting up with relatives and friends, while others were seen scooping water from their rooms when the Daily Graphic went round the affected communities last Saturday.

Some residents of Rice City (Gumani), Jisonayili, Kanvili and Tuunayili, the hardest hit by the flood, were seen trying to salvage the remains of their soaked personal belongings.

It was the timely intervention of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) that prevented road users from being trapped in the flood in the affected areas.

When contacted, officials of the Northern Regional Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) said they were currently on the ground undertaking an assessment to ascertain the extent of damage caused.

Days after the devastating flood, the victims are still counting their losses, although commercial activities have bounced back in the metropolis.

A resident, Adam Salifu, whose house was completely submerged, said he had lost all his belongings to the flood.

Another resident, Safia Amadu, blamed the flood on poor drainage systems and choked gutters in the area.

While calling for the drainage systems to be fixed, as well as for other challenges resulting in the flooding situation to be resolved, she also called on the authorities to, as a matter of urgency, go to the aid of victims with some relief items.

Flooding has become an annual phenomenon in the Tamale metropolis and its environs.

Last year, the GNFS in the Northern Region averted a possible major fire disaster when it spotted a fuel leakage at a filling station and controlled its flow as a four-hour downpour flooded parts of the metropolis.

Imminent

The fire disaster appeared imminent and brought to mind the June 3, 2015 incident in Accra, as petrol from an underground storage tank of the fuel station at Vittin, a densely populated area on the main Tamale-Yendi road in the Tamale metropolis, floated on the flood waters that swept across the community.

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