Will Accra’s Biggest Enemy Return?

Do you live in Accra? Do you know Accra created its biggest enemy? Have you wondered how Accra did it? How about when and how it returns to torment them? If these questions intrigue you, stick with me as I unravel this little mystery in a few paragraphs.

Accra happened to be about thirty miles from Aburi on the Akuapem Ridge. The latter had served as a quiet, luscious, cool base for many early European missionaries as well as their families. – Kwaku Nti

As early as 1874, the British colonial administration was rooting for Ghana’s (Formerly Gold Coast) capital to be moved to Accra. The statement by Professor Kwaku Nti was one of the few reasons that motivated calls for this move.

By 1877, the colonial government moved the seat of government to Accra. In the conversations (from the British parliament to the daily newspapers) that led to the selection of Accra as the capital, the floods in Accra were not mentioned. The absence of discussions on floods clearly reveals that flood incidents were somehow absent in Accra. Plagues and earthquakes were the disasters that sparingly attacked Accra.

From the late 1800s to the beginning of the 1900s, Accra experienced rapid infrastructural development to cater for the rapid growth in population. Accra, as the seat of government in the Gold, attracted people all over West Africa. This unprecedented increase impeded the capability of the colonial authorities to think and plan Accra. This situation led to the growth of slums and unplanned settlements. Also, drainage systems were an afterthought which became problematic. These situations created the conditions for flooding.

The first flooding incident happened in Accra in 1930. Noah Kofi Karley referred to 1930 as the birth of the Accra floods. This incident displaced many but became a major concern for the colonial administration. They responded to this problem by expanding residential settlements in Accra. Also, ideas of constructing a proper drainage system began to surface.

In 1936, the Survey Department set about extensively surveying Kokomlemle to plan drainage lines. This activity included areas like Asylum Down and Kanda, among others. Accra began to expand not as a result of proper planning but situations that the colonial authorities could barely control due to financial constraints.

Flooding in Accra after Ghana gained independence had become the key source of human vulnerability. Accra mostly floods along the Odaw River during rainy seasons. The people of Accra, during rainy seasons, live in fear of the return of their greatest enemy they created. According to Kagblor, the image below shows areas in Accra likely to experience floods.

Source: Kagblor (2010) ‘A spatio-temporal study of urbanisation and flooding in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) of Ghana’.

Accra has experienced flooding annually; however, some of these floods have left an indelible mark on the hearts of those who lost their loved ones, got injured, or lost their property to floods. Some of the most devastating floods include those of 1955, 1960, 1963, 1973, 1986, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015. The last one, in which about 150 people lost their lives, is still fresh in the memory of Ghanaians.

Also, it is an undeniale fact that the activities of residents of Accra contribute hugely to the manifestation of these floods and it level of destruction. We cannot blame the rain but blame the people for causing this harm. 

The situations that enable the floods have not changed. The people of Accra live in fear of its return this year. Their frail hope is that their biggest enemy should not do them more harm this season.

Source: Africanpostonline.com

Have you been a victim of the Accra floods? Have you thought of solutions to remedy the situation? Please share your thoughts in the comment sections.

Sources

• Karley NK. 2009. Flooding and physical planning in urban areas in West Africa: situational analysis of Accra, Ghana.
• Amoako, C., & Frimpong Boamah, E. (2015). The three-dimensional causes of flooding in Accra, Ghana. International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 7(1), 109–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2014.984720
• Nti, K. (2024). Maritime Culture and Everyday Life in Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Coastal Ghana: A Social History of Cape Coast. Indiana University Press.
• Quayson, A. (2014). Oxford Street, Accra: city life and the itineraries of transnationalism. Duke University Press.
• https://www.buffalo.edu/globalhealthequity/global-projects/inclusiveenvironments/the-three-dimensional-causes-of-flooding-in-accra–ghana.html