In the immediate aftermath of devastating floods, public attention is understandably focused on rescue, relief, and recovery. However, far less attention is given to systematically documenting and archiving these events and the state's varied responses.

In other words, we need to consider how to move from flood waters to public memory. This is a missed opportunity if we don’t. Videos, photographs, drone footage, and other visual records serve multiple important purposes beyond news reporting.

In the Ghanaian context, such documentation can provide compelling visual evidence to support public policy and enforcement actions.

For example, aerial drone footage can clearly demonstrate how buildings and other structures erected in waterways obstruct the natural flow of water, contributing significantly to flooding and its cascading consequences.

Such evidence can strengthen public understanding and support for difficult but necessary state interventions, including the demolition of illegal structures in flood-prone areas.

Importantly, these visual records also reveal the interconnected structural drivers of flooding. They expose how poor urban planning, weak enforcement of building regulations, encroachment on wetlands and waterways, inadequate drainage infrastructure, and ineffective land-use management combine to exacerbate flood risks.

By making these relationships visible, archived footage moves public discourse beyond viewing floods as purely natural disasters and instead highlights the role of governance, planning failures, and regulatory lapses in shaping disaster outcomes.

Beyond their evidentiary value, these visual archives provide invaluable local and contextual knowledge for disaster risk reduction and flood management. They enable policymakers, urban planners, engineers, emergency responders, researchers, and communities to analyse the dynamics of flooding, evaluate the effectiveness of state responses, and identify lessons for future preparedness and mitigation. They also provide a longitudinal record through which recurring patterns of vulnerability and institutional responses can be studied over time.

Floods are not only disasters; they are also teachable moments. Systematically preserving visual records of these events transforms them into enduring educational resources. They offer rich insights into the interaction between human activities, urban planning, environmental governance, law enforcement, and disaster response. By investing in the archiving of flood events and state interventions, Ghana can build an institutional memory that informs better policy, enhances public awareness, strengthens accountability, and ultimately contributes to more resilient cities and communities.

Written by Emmanuel Sowatey

Email: emmanuel.sowatey@gmail.com