About 600 homes at Dawhenya in the Ningo-Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region have been flooded following an overflow of the Dawhenya Irrigation Dam.
The flood has displaced hundreds of residents in the area forcing a number of them to evacuate their homes to safer places.
The flooding occurred on Monday when the dam overflowed its banks due to heavy rainfall which according to some residents, caught them off guard resulting in significant damage to their properties.
As at the time of filing this report, the water level was at window level with some relief efforts being undertaken by the local authorities and emergency response teams including the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
The authorities, including the Member of Parliament for the area, Samuel Nartey George and Chief Executive of the district, Al Atiff Tetteh Amanor, were at the scenes yesterday (Tuesday) to assess the extent of the damage caused by the flood and provide immediate relief to the affected residents.
Temporary shelters have been set up to accommodate those displaced from their homes, offering them a safe place to stay until the situation stabilises.
Scheme manager of the irrigation project, Samuel Tetteh, attributed the incident to a heavy rainfall on Monday and that, management of the dam project was not responsible for the overflow and flooding.
Assessing the situation, MP for the area, Samuel Nartey George, corroborated the self-spillage of the dam which had resulted from an increase in rainfall upstream in the mountain range which found its way into the dam.
He clarified that, the dam had an automatic spillway that allowed the water to spill once it got to a certain level to prevent the dam from breaking.
However, Mr George said the flooding and displacement of residents could not only be ascribed to the overflow of the dam but human activities within certain proximity to the dam.
He said a reserved area which served as a buffer to contain excess water from the dam had been encroached on by some local and foreign nationals with structures and construction works, forcing the spilled water to find its way into the communities.
He lamented the indiscipline attitude of some residents who chose to defy odds to build in the stream way of the dam while questioning the legitimacy of those structures and the authorities who supervised them.
District NADMO director, Michael Tetteh Eku, said the situation had been assessed and that a crunch meeting would be held with the District Chief Executive to provide relief items to the affected residents.
FROM KEN AFEDZI, DAWHENYA
