A technical advisor at the Ministry of Works and Housing Dr John Kissi has blamed flooding in parts of the capital city that are not flood-prone areas on Climate Changer.
“Heavy rainfall over a short period of time can cause flash floods or moderate rainfall over several days can overflow rivers or dams.
“the places that weren’t flooding before, we are seeing that now because climate change is having an effect,” he said.
Dr Kissi was speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday on how Accra is preparing for the perennial rainfalls that have started.
He explained that in a bid to manage the situation “we are looking at the hotspots and then we prioritize based on how much government is ready to spend.”
Touching on what the government is doing to help manage flooding during the rainy season, he explained “we’ve done a lot over the years but there’s a lot more to do. We have constructed 19 kilometers of drains across the country.
“We have identified hotspots in the country and we’ve submitted a proposal to the ministry of finance. There are some works that are ongoing, some have been completed.”
He assured, “we have been very proactive and I’ve said that the government has invested GHC250M.”
“With Accra, I’m sure you are aware the biggest concern is the Odaw drainage. As far as I know, all the projects within that Odawna area have been completed,” he added.
According to ActionAid UK, as climate change warms up the atmosphere, the air can hold 7% more water vapor for every one-degree Celsius rise in temperature. When this air rapidly cools, water vapor turns into droplets which join together to form heavy rainfall.”
