The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA) has warned the authorities in major cities to clear the drains as the country is set to experience heavy rains.

Major drains should be cleared of silt while outflow of some water bodies should be widened for easy flow of flood waters during a heavy downpour, advised Samuel Yorke, Director of Research and Applied Meteorology at the Agency.

Although the country is yet to enter the major season for the rains, GMA is forecasting heavy rains coupled with strong winds as experienced early Tuesday in and around the national capital, Accra.

Several homes recorded flooding in the four-hour downpour which started circa 2:30 am, flooding some major roads such as the Circle-Achimota road and the Kaneshie-Kasoa road. 

Some of the roads had a portion of blocked by a mudslide causing a vehicular jam.

Mr Yorke says residents in major cities should take precautionary measures and avoid throwing refuse into drains.

“For the city [authorities] it is not too late, they can still go ahead to desilt the gutters, to enlarge the outflow of the Odaw River [and] to reduce any floods around the Nkrumah Circle area,” the Meteorologist told Daniel Dadzie, host of the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Tuesday.

He advised farmers in the hinterlands to move relatively to higher grounds instead of cultivating their crops in valleys and low-lying grounds to avoid losing their yields to floods.

Farming activities should also not be too close to river bodies he advised as the river beds have become shallower due to human activities leading to sand being pumped into them which could create the possibility of the banks flooding when the rains set in.