By: Enock Ankomah
A torrential late-evening downpour has swept through parts of the Greater Accra Region, leaving a trail of destruction, displacing market women, and submerging several homes in the Amasaman-Fise enclave.
The rapid rise of floodwaters caught many off guard during the night, forcing traders to abandon their market stalls and leaving families stranded in their own homes as water breached residential areas.
Among the hardest-hit is Divine Adifu, a resident of Amasaman-Fise, who spoke on behalf of the distressed community. Adifu revealed that the floodwaters rose as high as knee-level, penetrating every corner of his home and destroying valuable household equipment. The severity of the damage forced him and many others to skip work to deal with the aftermath.
“Yesterday’s downpour was something else; it entered into all my rooms. The water rose to my knee level, ruining everything,” Adifu narrated while clearing debris. “Because of that, I couldn’t even go to work. My family and I have spent the entire day trying to clean up this unbearable mess.”
Poor Infrastructure and Blocked Lanes Blamed
The disaster has reignited intense frustration among locals, who point to a failing drainage network and unneighborly practices as the primary culprits. The Fise community, situated at the base of a hilly terrain, naturally receives heavy runoff during storms. However, human interference has turned a natural challenge into a structural disaster.
According to Adifu, certain community members have intentionally blocked drainage channels that flow into their respective lanes, effectively redirecting the entire volume of hill runoff directly into his neighborhood.
“Our drainage system is poor,” Adifu explained. “Some community members are blocking the drainage paths into their lanes, so my lane ends up receiving all the downpour coming off the hill. It has cost the people on our lane so much.”
Inadequate Local Safeguards
In a bid to mitigate the seasonal threat, some residents previously pooled resources to construct a gutter system directly in front of their homes. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of yesterday’s rainfall completely overwhelmed the makeshift defense.
“We created a gutter in front of our house to catch some of the runoff, but it is far too small. It simply cannot hold the quantum of water coming down,” Adifu noted.
Residents Demand Urgent MCE, Government Intervention
With the rainy season intensifying across the capital, residents fear that subsequent downpours could lead to even more catastrophic property damage or a loss of life. The community is issuing an urgent appeal to the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), local assembly leaders, and central government officials to overhaul the area’s infrastructure.
“We desperately need a better drainage system in this Fise community. We need the support of the authorities because living like this is completely unbearable,” Adifu pleaded.
As of Tuesday, affected families and local traders are still counting their losses, cleaning out thick mud from their living and trading spaces, and calling for immediate engineering solutions before the next clouds gather.
