Rains render 150 homeless at Akyem Oda Zongo
Ten days of continuous rains have caused the Birim River to overflow its banks, rendering more than 150 people at Akyem Oda Zongo homeless.
The floodwaters from the river also damaged more than 100 houses and other personal belongings such as beds, mattresses, television sets, fridges, deep freezers and electronic gadgets.
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The victims are currently putting up with relatives, friends and well wishers.
Relief items
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Birim Central, Ms Victoria Adu, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oda, Mr William Agyapong Quaittoo, have visited the victims and presented them with some relief items.
The MCE, on behalf of the Municipal Assembly, presented the victims with 100 plastic buckets, 50 plastic washing bowls, 100 drinking cups and 100 mosquito nets while the MP donated 100 student mattresses and 100 pillows.
In his interaction with the victims, Mr Quaittoo said the donations were supplementary relief items, and that enhanced relief items would be supplied to them by the
National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in due time.
Dumping of refuse
The MP attributed the continuous flooding in the area whenever it rained heavily to indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drains by the residents.
He, therefore, advised the residents to desist from doing so and rather use the designated waste collection points and bins in order to prevent future floods and possible outbreak of environmental diseases.
Precautionary measures
Ms Adu advised residents in Oda Zongo to take precautionary measures against the floods in the area.
She called on those residing in low-lying and flood prone areas to move upland to avoid being swamped by floods and attendant destruction of property.
The Deputy NADMO Director for Birim Central Municipality, Mr Nelson Ntiamoah, urged the people living in areas prone to flooding to be cautious and take measures to avoid a repeat of the situation at Oda Zongo since the Ghana Metrological Services Authority had warned of more heavy rains until the end of November this year.
The Chief of Oda Zongo, Alhaji Sulemana Adamu, who received the items on behalf of the flood victims commended the donors for the gesture.
The Birim River
The Birim River is one of the main tributaries of the Pra River in Ghana and flows through the country's most important diamond producing areas and also through most of the width of the Akyem areas in the Eastern region.
The river has been degraded in recent times as a result of human activities, including illegal mining popularly referred to as galamsey.