The Eastern regional Technical Committee of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has asked owners of homes and properties located on waterways to move or face demolition.
The warning comes after heavy rains left the regional capital submerged in flood waters on Wednesday.
The rains which lasted barely an hour forced many residents out of their homes and left commuters stranded in the town.
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Joy News’ Kofi Siaw and Maxwell Kudekor reported that Abrekwa Nkwanta, Nsukwao, Koforidua Zongo and Effiduase had the worst cases of flooding.
The Technical Committee following an assessment of the situation said one of the major causes of the annual floods has to do with not only the poor drainage system in the town but also the blatant violation of the law.
According to the reporter, the Committee believes the indiscriminate citing of properties on waterways will no longer be tolerated.
They have asked the residents to move the properties or risk having them pulled down by government.
Regional Director of NADMO, Appiah Koduah said a team from the Organisation is still touring parts of the town to assess the extent of the damage.
“What we are going to do as an immediate measure is to ensure that we demolish all the buildings in waterways.
“We have asked the occupants to vacate those places and if they don’t do that, by next week, we will demolish all the buildings,” he added.
He said all major drains in the municipality will be desilted immediately.
In the long term, however, he said there are plans to do a complete re-engineering by expanding drains in the region.
The residents are however pleading for more time to find alternative settlements. They say the one-week ultimatum is insufficient.
Source: Myjoyonline.om
