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The Upper East Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NaDMO), Mr. Jerry Asamani, has dismissed claims that some school-age children drowned in the floods in Kobore, in the western district of Bawku, in the eastern region.
He said that since the Kobore Bridge submerged as a result of recent flooding in the Region, some people were transported through the floods to the other side.
“I want to issue a disclaimer here, people say they used boats to cross the kids from school and they drowned, nothing like that happened.”
Asamani refuted the stories in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, on the sidelines of a ceremony organized by the Volta River Authority and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company to present food to his team to distribute to victims of floods in the Region.
He said: “One of the unofficial ships capsized with about five occupants included; minors, minors were really in danger but they were rescued with the help of the people around ”.
When asked why the operators of those unauthorized ships could still operate despite the dangers involved, Mr. Asamani said: “We called the police when the vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, was around.
They put up barricades at both ends so that people could not access the place. After Dr. Bawumia left, the police moved their barriers further. So that protocol that the police gave was broken and that is why they are using the place ”.
When mentioning the level of damage caused by the floods, the Director of NaDMO said that crops such as corn, peanuts, onion, watermelon, among others, were submerged, including collapsed bridges.
He said some houses in the region collapsed, but the worst hit was Anateem, a community in the Bolgatanga municipality.
“Their houses were submerged and they had to run for their lives and settle at Anateem Elementary School.”
Mr. Asamani revealed that preliminary flood data indicated that a total of approximately 7,561 people, including children, were affected in the Region.
In Bolgatanga municipality, for example, the director said a total of 544 people, including 132 men, 145 women, 130 boys and 137 girls, were affected by the floods.
He added that “the main problem we are facing now is the Kobore Bridge which has literally been eroded, a distance of about 20 to 30 meters has been destroyed.”
Asamani said a recent visit to the bridge by Frank Fuseini Adongo, the Upper East Regional Vice Minister and some officials from his team, revealed that the water was gradually receding.
He said they were hopeful that the government would take steps to ensure that stranded trucks loaded with goods could cross.
He said one option would be to redirect the trucks, but the containers had tracking devices and couldn’t be diverted to use unapproved routes.
“So we have agreed with the Regional Director of Customs to reschedule some of the drivers to use the Paga route instead of staying there.”
The NaDMO director further stated that, according to his controls, the trucks had no perishable goods.
