The Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Prof. Nana Ama Browne Klutse, is leading a high-powered delegation to Samreboi in the Western Region today, June 30, 2026, to assess the extent of damage caused by the recent flooding, which has been widely linked to illegal mining (galamsey) activities.

The delegation includes the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations, Prof. Michael Ayamga-Adongo; the Director of Mining, Ing. Michael Sandow Ali; the Director of Corporate Affairs, Mrs Audrey Quarcoo; and other senior officials of the Authority.

During the visit, the delegation will tour flood-affected communities in Samreboi, pay courtesy calls on the chiefs of Tigarekrom and Aboifie, engage residents at a community durbar, visit victims of the flooding, and inspect temporary shelters housing displaced persons. The team is also expected to assess the humanitarian conditions of affected residents and gather first-hand information to guide the Authority's response.

Speaking to journalists in Takoradi after paying a courtesy call on the Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, ahead of the visit, Prof. Klutse said the EPA is considering dredging and re-engineering rivers and waterways whose natural channels have been altered or blocked by illegal mining activities to reduce the recurring flooding in the region.

"EPA will assess the situation in Samreboi and, going forward, we are considering dredging and re-engineering many of these water bodies that have either been blocked or diverted for illegal mining activities, which are contributing to the flooding we are seeing in the Western Region," she said.

Parts of the Western and Central regions were recently submerged following heavy rains, with Samreboi and Cape Coast among the hardest-hit areas as floodwaters inundated homes, businesses and public infrastructure.

The floods marked a worrying expansion of the disaster into areas that were previously less prone to severe flooding, highlighting the growing environmental impact of illegal mining and poor land-use practices.

In Cape Coast, three people lost their lives, while three women sustained injuries during the flooding.

In the Western Region, the torrential rains caused two major rivers and several waterways to overflow their banks, triggering widespread flooding in Samreboi and surrounding communities in the Wassa Amenfi area. The area has for years been a hotspot for uncontrolled illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

The EPA says its intervention forms part of its mandate under the Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124) to protect the environment and implement measures aimed at mitigating the loss of lives and destruction of property resulting from environmental degradation and climate-related disasters.

The Authority is expected to use findings from the assessment to develop both immediate and long-term interventions to restore affected waterways and reduce the risk of future flooding in mining communities.