Heavy rains: Boy, 13, drowns in Sekondi-Takoradi

• Posted on May 5, 2014May 5, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Heavy rains in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis last Thursday claimed the life of a 13-year-old boy, Cornelius Cobbina, after he had allegedly slipped into a drain.

Cobbina, a class six pupil of the Holy Child Experimental School at Fijai, was said to be playing football with his friends just before the rains.

Eyewitnesses said Cobbina allegedly slipped into a high current in his attempt to pick his football and fell into the drain.

Poor Visibility

Other sources said as a result of poor visibility, his playmates could not rescue him. His body was later found between Nkontonpo and the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital.

Submerged

Residents blamed the authorities of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) for inaction resulting in avoidable flooding and loss of life and properties.

Most of the storm drains in the metropolis are choked with filth, making it difficult for the free flow of water.

However, the assembly blamed it on the attitudinal problem of the people who dumped refuse indiscriminately.

Rain

The rain, which started about 2 p.m., flooded the entire Central Market, Kwesimintsim, Fijai, parts of Anaji, Kweikuma and other parts of the metropolis, making vehicular movement impossible.

Residents were confined to one place for hours, a situation which they described as unusual, as the volume of rainwater should have been easily carried away by the drains if they were not silted.

The assembly, they said, had turned a blind eye to the plight of the people and allowed some to break the law by dumping solid waste into the drains.

The CBD

In the central business district (CBD), residents were not happy with the assembly for lack of initiatives to rid the city of choked gutters.

At the Market Circle yesterday, in less than 30 minutes into the three-hour rain, the entire inner perimeter of the market was flooded, while the street from the Wooden Shop area towards the Ghana Commercial Bank and the Bank of Africa was flooded.

The Takoradi Airport

The flood waters took over the foot of the runway at the Takoradi Airport. Fortunately, before then, every aircraft had landed and taken off before the rain.

Officials of the Takoradi Air Force Base, a military facility, managed to clear all the debris before air traffic started moving yesterday morning.

For some of the airline operators, it was about time solutions were found to the perennial flooding of the runway.

-Graphic Online