It is estimated that more than sixty buildings have collapsed in some five overseas rural communities within the Agave Traditional Area of the South Tongu district of the Volta Region following the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams. Some of these buildings are mud structures that cannot be inhabited again even if the water finally recedes.
Tsatsukope, Agerkekope, Amutinu, Adzake and Alikekope are some of the worst-affected communities hit by the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams in the South Tongu district of the Volta Region.
These communities have become difficult to reach because of the absence of or poor roads in the Agave area. The communities are also located at the end of the lower Volta Basin.
At Alikekope alone, 20 concrete and 19 mud structures have been destroyed by the floods, displacing some 200 residents. The situation is not different from the other sister communities, where some have evacuated themselves onto heaps of sand serving as higher grounds for them while other residents have packed out to Kasseh and other areas in the Ada East district of the Greater Accra Region, using a boat powered by an outboard motor.
Our news team had to wave through several meters of flood waters to arrive in some of these affected communities.
Crops and livelihoods such as fishing and farming have been destroyed. Schoolchildren cannot go to school, and any activity or any form of assistance to these residents has to be done through the flood waters or using a canoe.
A victim and elder at Alikekope, Stephen Alike, shared his ordeal and that of his family and residents with our news team.
Another victim and fisherman from the community, Patrick Sosah, told our news team that 30 of them have to be sleeping on a heap of sand they call a haven, adding that food and water are their major concerns apart from the destruction of their buildings and livelihoods by the floods. He spoke Ewe.
Over 30,000 people from 9 districts in 3 regions were displaced at the peak of the tragedy, but with authorities confirming the water has begun receding after the sluice gates were closed, it remains to be seen how the various communities get their lives back to normal.
