Ruthless rainstorms have battered parts of Buipe, displacing about 400 residents of the township located in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region.
Local officials say late Sunday’s rainstorms destroyed over 65 houses and structures, rendering many inhabitants homeless. At least two homes were flooded, causing occupants to flee. No casualties were recorded.
Some of the hard-hit public buildings include the Buipe Senior High School, the Buipe District Court and the Holistic Medicare Hospital.
The Central Gonja District, with Buipe as its administrative capital, is one of 26 districts of the Northern Region. The government carved it out of the West Gonja District in 2004 as part of moves to further decentralize governance.
In a CitiNews interview, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Central Gonja described the extent of havoc caused by the rainstorms as devastating.
“Some of the schools have been completed destroyed,” Mumuni Shiraz Ibin Yacin said.
He said aide workers have been deployed to the affected areas to assess the impact of the damages and to get relief items to displaced residents.
“The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) is working to get the figures. Over 65 houses have been affected; and an estimated 15 institutions, which include schools and hospitals, have also been destroyed,” the DCE said.
Northern Regional Coordinator of NADMO, Alhaji Abdulai Silinboma, told CitiNews via telephone that his officers have finished assessing the scope of damage caused by the storms.
“We have done our assessments already,” he said. “The reports will be sent to Accra. We are still around to see what we can do.”
Historically, the Northern Region has over years been battered by heavy floods and severe rainstorms. In 1999 and again in 2007, major floods devastated the three regions in the north of the country.
According the national relief agency, NADMO, the 2007 floods affected close to 275,000 people in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions of the country.
By: Afua Kesewa Akoto/citifmonline.com/Ghana