Ho Central MP Toured Flood Areas In Ho

Over the weekend, precisely on Saturday, July 08, 2023, disaster struck in the city of Ho. An unusually heavy downpour resulted in huge floods that in their wake brought about untold destruction of domestic and commercial property. Buildings collapsed and their contents washed away.

Affected residents escaped from their homes and stood outside and they watched helplessly as floods floated away their belongings. Togbe Afede’s Palace was not spared as the floods hit hard at the fence wall of the forecourt of the palace grounds.

A commercial building nearby collapsed and the wares of clothing, jewellery and cosmetics items were carried away. The small bridge over the river between Ho Polyclinic and Ho Teaching Hospital was run over by the surging flood effectively blocking vehicular movement. Commuters plying the Ho-Aflao Road had to halt their movement on either side of the road for over one hour resulting in huge Entry to Ho Technical University was also blocked by the floods overflowing the access road to the campus.

Flood water invaded some residents’ bedrooms destroying their personal belongings. Several houses, especially those near drains were demolished by the ravaging floods rendering many homeless. Indeed, this particular flood disaster was historic in Ho.

We however thank God that no life was lost. Yet our sympathies go to the individuals affected, especially Madam Awonye who lost her business building and wares to the flood. Initial reports from the Municipal NADMO Coordinator indicate that some six hundred and forty (640) individuals were affected; their houses, parts thereof or fence walls collapsed under the pressure of the strong and heavy floods.

RESPONSE BY AUTHORITIES 

This is not the first major disaster in the Ho Municipality. Rainstorms have ripped off public and private buildings in Sokode, Hõdzo, Kpenõe, Shia and Ho (Regional Model School) in the recent past.
However, the history of response to such occurrences by state agencies is rather appalling. No help has come to victims of the Sokode, Hõdzo Achiase and the Ho Regional Model School to date. I do not know whether the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) functions in Ho.

The Minister of Interior will recall that I approached him when disaster struck at Kpenõe, Ho and Shia simultaneously in which the roofs of schools and a Health Centre were ripped off by rainstorms. He asked me to write officially, which I did. NADMO responded to me that it was not their responsibility to provide relief and that I should refer the matter to the Ho Municipal Assembly. And no help came indeed.

Rt. Hon. Speaker, please intervene this time around so that victims of this most recent unprecedented disaster can obtain assistance for restoration.The Municipal Health Office requires to mount public sanitation education on the management of drains and gutters near private homes.

The MEHO should also enforce the Assembly’s laws and regulations. The Assembly must embark on a rigorous and regular desilting of the drains in town. That is most urgent even now. NADMO should examine what urgent assistance or support to give to the identified victims of this disaster. With the ever-increasing population and the need for more housing, spatial planning requires greater attention.

The more permanent solution can however be found in:

a. Reconstruction of the major drains to widen them and raise their heights.

b. Reconstruction of the bridges spanning the streams in the city.

Disasters of this kind can then be avoided, or their negative effects minimized. It has become urgent that Ho should obtain big and special funding to replan and implement a reconstruction of public facilities that befit the status of a regional capital. The Secondary Cities fund should provide more for such a project.

 

 

 

 

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