A three-year-old boy has been confirmed dead, while 30 others have been left injured following the collapse of a church building’s wall, and two others whose roofs were ripped off in a rainstorm at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.
The buildings, located in different parts of the area, were holding Sunday services when the incident occurred.
The injured persons are receiving treatment at the Agona Swedru Government Hospital.
Covenant Temple Ministry, one of the affected churches, was shielding the children from the rainstorm when its roof and wall collapsed.
The deceased, who was among the children seeking shelter on the podium, was crushed by the broken wall.
It took the intervention of some personnel from the Ghana National Service to help persons trapped under the rubble to be removed.
The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) in the region, estimates that over 600 residents may have been affected by the Sunday rainstorm, with some rendered homeless.
According to the Agona West Disaster Control Officer, Joseph Kojo Appiah, the incident “has affected schools, residential facilities, and churches. The church building totally collapsed while a church service was ongoing. About 30 people were injured and they are receiving treatment at the hospital. In other rural areas, about 7 people were injured. About 600 people have been affected. Internally displaced persons are about 200 but they are all not in the same area. The rain brought a power outage so we are still trying to communicate with our staff on the ground so by close of day, we’ll issue a full report. For those without places to spend the night, we’ll find a temporary shelter for them,” he told Citi News.
Meanwhile, power is yet to be fully restored to the area as some electricity cables and poles were destroyed by the storm.
–
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana