Flood disrupts economic activities in Oti Region

 The spillage of the Akosombo Dam and heavy rains that flooded the communities in the Oti Region is making life difficult for most residents, particularly Dambai, the regional capital where the central market has been under floods over the past weeks.

The residents feared that the situation would pose more difficult times for them in days ahead and therefore, called on the government to come to their aid.

The affected communities included Kabiti in the Nk­wanta-South Municipality, Kabonwule and Damanko in the Nkwanta-North District, Kete-Krachi in the Krachi- West Municipality, Tapa-Abotoase in the Biakoye District and Dambai in the Krachi-East Municipality and the capital of the Oti Region.

A visit by the Ghanaian Times to some of the affected commu­nities revealed that many houses had been submerged in the swelling in the Volta Lake and the Oti Rivers with victims putting up with friends and relatives.

The Kete-Krachi, Abotoase, and Kabiti markets are the worse hit areas by the floods, resulting in economic activities coming to a standstill.

Speaking in an interview at Tapa-Abotoase, a trader, Mr Emmanuel Asibi, said the entire Abotoase market was engulfed in the flood, and the traders con­fined to a limited space, leading to congestion during market days.

Mr Asibi said the shops and market sheds were submerged as a result of the spillage of the Akosombo Dam, which had made life more difficult for them, and appealed to the authorities to control the spillage in a way that would bring to an end the destruction.

A 49-year-old trader at Dam­bai, Ms Felicia Agbemafle, said she was confused when she went to the Dambai market and real­ised that the shed under which she sells was submerged, and she had to struggle with others to sell at a limited space in the market.

She said almost every year the Oti River overflowed its banks but the current situation was abnormal, with many people attributing it to the spillage of the Akosombo Dam, which had affected businesses and displaced others.

Ms Agbemafle, therefore, appealed to the government to help those whose businesses were affected as well as those whose houses were destroyed to enable them to recover and meaning­fully engage in their economic activities.

She explained that currently those who were displaced as a result of the spillage of the dam were living with friends and relatives, and found it difficult to embark on any economic activ­ities including fishing, farming and petty trading.

A trader, Mr Mussah Abu­bakar, said he plied his trade at Dambai and Kete-Krachi markets, however since the two markets were flooded, he found it extremely difficult to make mean­ingful sales in his second-hand clothes business for the past one week.

FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, ABOTOASE

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