Torrential rains sparked flooding across Accra on Monday, killing at least three people, authorities and local media reported, with the president blaming climate change and unchecked urbanisation.\n<\/p>\n
Flooding is common during Ghana\u2019s rainy season, but residents say inundations in the capital have become worse in recent years due to rapid urbanisation, the building on and blocking of waterways, and a lack of investment in drainage infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n
Some 140 millimetres of rain fell on the city in a single day, \u201cthe highest experienced in several years,\u201d and nearly triple last year\u2019s high, President John Mahama said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThat aspect of the problem is beyond our control because it is driven by changing climatic conditions,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n
But he also warned of \u201cthe issue of human behaviour\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever government begins removing structures built in waterways, some people accuse us of being inhumane,\u201d he said. \u201cYet when disasters such as today\u2019s flooding occur, the consequences affect everyone.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In the eastern suburb of Tse Addo, emergency responders and local volunteers used boats to rescue at least 15 children and an infant after rains that started lashing the city at 3:00 am flooded the area.<\/p>\n
Local authorities said the body of a man in his 60s was recovered from the low-lying Alajo district, where floodwaters also damaged vehicles and homes. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, journalists in the neighbourhood reported two more people killed by rising waters coming into contact with electrical wiring in their homes.\n<\/p>\n
The Ministry of the Interior urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel as the police, military and firefighters were dispatched to assist rescue operations.\n<\/p>\n
The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area is home to more than five million people, with flooding frequently disrupting transport, damaging homes and businesses, and claiming lives during periods of heavy rainfall.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, my house is flooded,\u201d retired journalist Philip Mensah, 67, told AFP, adding that his \u201c1970s collection of vinyl records is now underwater\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
Patience Naa Adjeley Adjei said she had spent hours trying to keep water out of her room.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI have mopped my room more than eight times,\u201d the schoolteacher told AFP. \u201cI can\u2019t even step out because my room is flooded, and outside is flooded.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ghana Meteorological Agency warned that rain-bearing clouds were expected to persist over southeastern Ghana before spreading westward later on Monday, raising the risk of further flooding.\n<\/p>\n
AFP\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Torrential rains sparked flooding across Accra on Monday, killing at least three people, authorities and local media reported,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":901886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[365163,285,30828,746,36848,365164,365165,2702,363041,159,67,132,365166,68,24714],"class_list":["post-901885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-accra-floods","tag-climate-change","tag-emergency-response","tag-environment","tag-flood-victims","tag-ghana-meteorological-agency","tag-ghana-news","tag-natural-disaster","tag-rainy-season","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-urbanisation","tag-us","tag-west-africa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116836172250037085","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}