The Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly has deployed an emergency security task force to reduce deaths and injuries caused by perennial flooding in flood-prone communities within the municipality.

The initiative comes in response to recurring incidents in which residents have lost their lives after attempting to cross fast-moving floodwaters following heavy rainfall.

The emergency team is made up of personnel from the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service, and they are stationed at identified flood-prone hotspots during periods of heavy rainfall, where they restrict access to dangerous crossings and assist in evacuating residents from submerged homes to safer ground.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Ben Abdallah Alhassan, speaking to Joy News, said the Assembly is intensifying both short-term interventions and longer-term engineering solutions to address the persistent flooding challenge.

He explained that shortly after assuming office, the Assembly undertook extensive dredging works on key storm drains, including those at Aboabo Pelele and Asabi Junction.

“About five days into office, we conducted extensive dredging of the storm drains at Aboabo Pelele and Asabi Junction. As a result, from around May last year, there was not a single flooding situation recorded due to those works,” he said.

Mr. Alhassan noted that the Assembly is continuing with similar interventions this year, with further dredging works scheduled to begin next week.

He said the Aboabo Pelele storm drain, commonly referred to as “Peleli,” requires a complete re-engineering rather than routine maintenance.

“Our major problem with the Aboabo Pelele storm drain is that it needs complete re-engineering. We need to widen it and increase its depth so it can contain the large volumes of water that flow through it,” he explained.

He added that discussions have already been held with technical officials from the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) programme, and the World Bank Group to secure support for the project.

According to him, the Member of Parliament for the area has also been actively involved in pushing for the intervention.

Mr. Alhassan said similar re-engineering efforts are required for the Asabi storm drain while the Assembly continues to implement proactive measures to manage floodwaters.

He added that ongoing works are aimed at reducing the volume and impact of stormwater while longer-term infrastructure solutions are being pursued.