A rainstorm has wreaked havoc in the Anloga District of the Volta Region, destroying properties worth millions of Ghana Cedis.

The storm which recorded the greatest damage in the district, deroofed several residential and educational infrastructures and damaged business, electricity, and telephony installations.

According to the Anloga Secretariat of the National Disaster Management Organisation, about 20 educational institutions were affected by the rainstorm.

Some 18 public basic schools and two second-cycle institutions had sections of roofing of buildings ripped off, books and learning equipment destroyed and trees uprooted on the campuses.

The Anlo Senior High School is recorded to have suffered the greatest damage. A dining hall pavilion completely collapsed while parts of the kitchen were destroyed.

Sections of the roofings of the ICT laboratory, Agricultural Science laboratory, Visual Arts block,
sports pavilion, Azumah Pavilion, assembly sheds, parking lots, housemistress's bungalow, ironing shed and two girls' dormitory blocks.

The Headmaster of the Anlo Senior High School, Wisdom Kwame Adeti, said feeding the students has become a great challenge due to the damaged state of the dining facility.

He said the government must complete a dining hall project started over a decade ago to enable the students to have a decent place to feed.

“The problem is that the new dining hall being constructed since 2012 has not been completed. The temporal shed made for us has also been pulled down by the rain. As we speak, we have challenges cooking for our students”, he said.

The Anloga District Education Director, Dominic Yao Dzanado asserted that the disaster would impede academic activities as school reopens on April 30, 2024.

He said the director has appealed to the Parents Teacher Association but is uncertain if they would be able to pull anything substantive through, hence appealed for support to put the affected structures in shape.

“Our cry is that we need support from the government, from NGOs, civil society organizations, to come to the aid of our schools so that something can be done concerning the roofing of the schools, and putting up certain structures for the students to learn under when school resumes”, he said.

About 300 houses were damaged by the rainstorm, with the majority of the houses having their roofs ripped off, displacing members of the affected households.

A mobile telecommunications mast at Dzita collapsed while electrical installations across the district also suffered great damage. Some parts remain without power supply as staff of ECG are working to repair the damaged lines.

The Anloga District Chief Executive, Seth Yormewu lamented the devastation caused by the storm describing it as the greatest damage caused in the district by a storm.

He recounted how fisherfolks whose livelihoods depend on fishing could not lose their trade because the storm damaged their fishing gear.

He grieved the poor state the affected schools have been left in but was grateful the unfortunate incident occurred during the holidays.

Mr Yormewu, therefore, appealed for external support to restore normalcy in the affected areas.

“What happened, I have never seen it before. So we are just appealing to the Ministry of Education, the government, NADMO, and other relevant public institutions, to come so support the District Assembly so we can do something for our people”, he said.