About 400 students of Asanteman Senior High School in Kumasi have been displaced by a rainstorm that ravaged parts of the city late Thursday evening.
One of three girls’ dormitories hosting the students had its roofs ripped off by the storm that started about 6:00pm and lasted for an hour.
Personal belongings, including mattresses, clothing and academic materials for the girls were all soaked in water, destroying a chunk of them.
The students were forced to spend the rest of their Thursday night with their colleagues in the two other girls’ dormitories.
Academic activities were cancelled Friday morning to allow the affected students salvage their personal effects.
“They are not attending classes; they are trying to clear the rooms within the affected dormitory. All the items have now been brought out,” our correspondent Benjamin Aidoo reported Friday morning from the school.
According to our correspondent, no student suffered any injury or collapsed as was rumoured on social media Thursday night.
The school authorities, Aidoo reported, have resolved to move the affected students to temporarily join their colleagues in the other two dormitories until their block is restored.
Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Simon Osei Assibey Antwi, has ordered the National Disaster Management Organisation which has been assessing the extent of damage, to immediately release roofing sheets to the school for the block to be roofed within the next three days.
He has also asked NADMO to assist the school to reconstruct a portion of their wall which also collapsed. The school authorities say they will need about 50 concrete blocks.
Meanwhile, a number of schools within the Kumasi metropolis also suffered various damages as a result of the rainstorm that has left parts of the city in darkness as electricity poles have been uprooted leaving cables lying on the streets.
NADMO officials have been assessing the situation at the various schools and locations to determine the extent of damage and the help to offer them.
At Abrotia Basic School at Amakom, five classroom blocks had their roofs ripped off, while two classroom blocks of the T.I Ahmadiyya Senior High School suffered similar fate.
The roofing of a five-classroom block of the Kumasi Wesley Girls SHS at Tafo was brought down by the storm and the roof of a two-classroom block for the St Louis Basic School at Ash Town was ripped off.
At the St Louis College of Education, the school’s main auditorium had part of its roof ripped off and notice boards pulled down. Portions of the school’s walls have also developed cracks.
The Amakom market was not spared as 15 shops were destroyed. 10 of them had their roofs destroyed while the remaining five shops collapsed.
By: Stephen Kwabena Effah