Toddler found dead after being swept away by flood at Sawaba in Kumasi

A two-year-old boy, Mohammed Awal, who was carried away by floodwater at Sawaba in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, has been found dead.

But for the timely intervention of rescuers, two occupants of a car, would also have died during Thursday’s heavy rains in some parts of the Ashanti Region.

The deceased, Mohammed Awal, was travelling with his mother on a tricycle, popularly known as ‘Pragya’, when the vehicle got stuck in the flood. In an attempt to continue the journey on foot, he was carried away by the flood.

Ashanti Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Kwabena Nsenkyire explained that he had a distress call from Asamanso that, ” two people had drowned.”

“So I had to rush down here and fortunately the NADMO and the Fire Service have rescued them and tomorrow we are will come and pull their car out from the water.”

He added that NADMO is still working on the assessment of the downpour from Tuesday night.

“We haven’t finished the assessment of Tuesday night’s downpour yet. We are on it and today, there was heavy downpour too, which is as twice as much of what happened Tuesday night. So we are on assessment.”

Meanwhile, former Mayor of Kumasi, Samuel Sarpong is among residents affected by the floods. He is accusing city authorities of failing to take action against persons building in waterways.

“I have approached them on several occasions. Apart from that, I have officially reported this to the Metropolitan Assembly. A due action must be taken. We realise that people have actually built on the banks of the river that was the reason why it overflowed its banks. We arranged excavators and bulldozers, we went there and demolished almost every building around that place but now just go there and see,” he said.