20 people confirmed dead in Upper East after torrential rains

Twenty people have been confirmed dead, while 19 others sustained various degrees of injuries after almost two weeks of torrential rains in the Upper East Region.

In addition, a total of 1,225 houses have collapsed, with 1,664 others partially destroyed as a result of the heavy rains.

Speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency on Wednesday, in Bolgatanga, Mr David Mbah, the Regional Director of Operations at the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), explained that the above figures were reports from the various Municipal and District Directors in the affected areas.

Breaking the figures, Mr Mbah said the Kassena-Nankana Municipal was the most affected with three deaths, two injuries, 962 collapsed houses and 985 partially damaged houses.

In Bolgatanga Municipal, three people died and 105 houses collapsed, while in the Kassena-Nankana West District, four people lost their lives, five sustained injuries, 25 houses collapsed and 230 houses partially destroyed.

In the Talensi District, four persons died, one person sustained injuries and 25 houses collapsed, while 151 others were partially destroyed.

The Binduri, Garu and Bawku districts recorded one death each, while one, seven and 100 houses collapsed in those areas respectively, while 298 houses in the three districts were partially destroyed.

In the Builsa North District, no house was destroyed, however, three people lost their lives while eight got injured.

Mr Mbah explained that some of the people died as a result of buildings collapsing on them and preliminary assessment indicated that some drowned in the running water, while others were killed by lightening that accompanied the heavy rains.

The Regional Director of Operations said tents were provided to some affected families as first response measures to enable them have a place to sleep.

Mr Mbah explained that his outfit did not have enough relief items to support the affected people and therefore appealed to the government, Non-Governmental Organisations and philanthropists to help.

He said the heavy rains begun on October 1, 2019 and rained almost every day until October12, 2019 and added that, “we did not expect heavy rains during this period in our part of the country, when we are almost getting to the dry season.”