Drivers and residents in Abokobi, Ashongman and other areas in the capital have been left stranded following hours of rain.
Rains that started at about 4:40 am on Friday clogged the major roads in the area, badly affecting commuters who were mostly heading to work and school.
Residents in some households could be seen with buckets trying to scoop the water that had entered their compounds.
The heavy rains also destroyed several shops as traders counted their losses after the floods subsided.
A popular waakye joint in the area, which on a regular day had long queues, now had a basin with the waakye relegated to the background.
The drivers of both commercial and private vehicles had parked in the middle of the road, chatting casually.
A man in his late 40s driving past a private vehicle said in the local Twi dialect, “go and sleep”, indicating that no car could cross to the other side.
Kwame Asiedu, a father of one, expressed his disappointment to The Ghana Report.
“We’re in March, right? We just celebrated independence, didn’t we? So, what are our leaders doing? Is it the first rain in this country?” he quizzed.
Another commercial driver asked, “So do we have a Member of Parliament at all?”
Before Friday’s rains, the Ghana Meteorological Agency warned that “A rain-bearing cloud has engulfed southeastern Ghana”.
This, according to the agency, is producing rain of varying intensity within the Volta Region.
It added that areas within the Greater Accra and Eastern regions would be affected before drifting to Central, Western, and parts of the Ashanti.
Many lives have been lost and properties destroyed due to the annual floods.
Many Ghanaians are apprehensive about the annual ritual of the capital city getting flooded.
Efforts by the city authorities to check the situation continue to be undermined by recalcitrant residents and the weak enforcement of bye-laws.
The government has attempted to address this problem by dredging rivers and gutters before rainy seasons, but this appears to be ineffective.
In May 2019, President Nana Akufo-Addo inspected two major projects handed out in 2016 to Dredge Masters Limited for the desilting and dredging of the Odaw channel and restoration of the Korle Lagoon to avert the perennial flooding in Accra.
The two projects the president inspected were the Accra Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Project at Circle and the Drainage Construction at Kaneshie 1st Light Intersection.
Below is a video to that effect
