Tell you what, make no mistake about the terrible situation the three Tongu Districts find themselves in. Literally, every Tongu person is scrambling for cover and the sheer loss, pressure, disappointment, and frustration is sad and pitiful.
Picture it from Sogakope’s viewpoint in South Tongu! The Comboni Center boasting the Comboni Hospital, Comboni Mortuary, Comboni Technical Vocational Institute, Comboni Basic Schools, and the Invitro Lab have all been closed down. As things stand, the Sogakope District Hospital is picking the sludge …
Thousands of students (basic School through Senior High School) have left for the various homes or hometowns I should say. Several hundreds of patients cannot access the premiere Comboni Hospital at Sogakope, and families of the deceased whose dead relations were in the Comboni Morgue were made to rush there and take those bodies away. And hundreds of Invitro lab employees are all at home
The Sogakope Beach Resort is not accepting guests for the last couple of days as the facility is feeling the impact of the floods. Agordomi Water Works which treats and supplies water to Sogakope is affected and portable water has not been flowing in our taps for the last several days
South Tongu’s Gonu enclaves of Ahiatrogakope, Havorkope, Adadzikope, Agbokope, Sukladzi, Ashiagborkope, Tsinuto et al have historically reeled under floods wreaked on them by the Tordzie river. Now that the Akosombo Dam Spillage is pushing and supplying water with speed never witnessed before, the flood level at the greater Gonu area is simply heart wrenching
Now, consider New Bakpa in Central Tongu which is being forced to host several thousands of inhabitants of the Island of Bakpa Awadiwoekome. The island is now submerged and completely deserted. But when you figure that same island had a functional kindergarten, primary and Junior High School form one (1) just over a week ago, the picture becomes clearer
The people of New Bakpa are scrambling to feed and comfort their kins from Bakpa Awadiwoekome over their unprecedented loss and sad state of affairs right now. Local leaders – Chiefs, Assembly Members, and Prominent Citizens are all scrambling to ensure there is water, food, and shelter for now …
The plight of Tongu is truly sad and the extent of loss, wreckage, and devastation is farfetched and sweeping. Right down from Atimpoku Bridge to Hawui, Tsatsukope, Alikekope, Agbeve (Estuary of the Volta River), it is a story of loss, grief, and consternation never seen before
Local Utilities Companies are not spared the brunt of this Spillage. The ECG/GRIDCO Power Substation at Sogakope has been breached by the floods. The Agordomi Water Works and Adidome Water Treatment Plants are all not working. Not surprisingly, I saw pictures of the folks in my holy village of Bakpa-Avedo where I grew up queing and crying for water. No water producing plant is pumping water right now, and those not directly affected by the floods are having to make do with borehole water or any anything like water would suffice
Another impact of the floods is the aggravated and dangerous environment being wreaked on the Tongu people. With these floods, toilets, mortuaries, refuse damps, cemeteries and anything you can think of is being stirred to prop up an environment I don’t know how to describe
All living things – humans, snakes, scorpions, mosquitoes and what have you are looking for cover. I saw one guy dangling a picture of a python he killed on his flooded or washed away rice farm at Agordome, Agave. It tells you the health risks are right here with us. It is not an after the floods or tomorrow matter. It is a matter of a very dangerous environment dealt us
Folks, it is a calamity of nationally monumental proportions! Former President John Mahama came to Sogakope yesterday (Friday October 13, 2023) to assess the situation. Literally everyone took note of his visit and felt he cares. Not that he did anything stellar, but that, the response to Tongu’s plight has been either painfully slow or literally anonymous
The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), National Environmental Agency, Regional and District Relief response teams are all invisible right now. And you wonder what crime we have committed. We have a State of Emergency right here but it seems only Tongus understand what is a State of Emergency
For now, it is your help no matter how little that we need. See which of the Three Tongu Districts you can easily reach – Sogakope, Adidome, and Battor are the capitals. Or which of the three Tongu MPs you can reach out to – Kobby Woyome, Gabby Hottordze, and Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa
Food, water, clothing, medicine, medics, and relief items would do it. Of course, you can do money and volunteer your time and support the relief efforts. I would not take out reaching out to your friends from Tongu. A phone call would do it or should I say a text or whatsapp message would do it? Seriously, we are stretched and bursting here at the seams because we sit under the Akosombo Dam which supplies electricity to the whole of our country Ghana
By: Yao Amekor
Sogakope | South Tongu