Volta’s coast hit by tidal storm again

Some communities along Volta Region’s coast have been hit by another tidal wave attack over the weekend rendering residents homeless.

Communities affected included Agavedzi, Salakope, Amutinu and Adina in the Ketu South Municipality in addition to Vodza, Keta Central and Abutiakope, Keta Municipality and Fuveme and Atiteti in the Anloga District.

The sea water which began its destructive journey last Saturday at some places, submerged homes, washed away belongings of residents and collapsed walls.

The most recent attacks in the region which happened in November last year, submerged hundreds of homes at Kedzikope, Abutiakope and Keta Central (Keta Municipality), Dzita, Agbledomi and Fuveme (Anloga District) and, Adina, Agavedzi, Amutinu and Salakope (Ketu South) rendering thousands of people homeless and destroying properties including school buildings.

Ghana News Agency’s (GNA) visit on Monday to Keta Emancipation Beach showed the beautiful beach resort was in disarray with some concrete walls brought to the ground.

At Agavedzi, a couple of houses were still inundated by tidal floods while others showed visible signs of collecting water.

Residents who spoke to the GNA said there was the need for government to act towards bringing a lasting solution to them saying, if the problem remained unattended, it would not be long for the communities along the coast to go extinct and the sea to go on a rampage annexing other communities and bringing down anything in its wa

“Our rooms were full of the sea water, and we spent quite a time heaping sand around the doors. All the running around yesterday made me feel dizzy. We practically kept wake because we had nowhere to go and we could not trust the sea at night,” a nursing mother, Madam Aku Agbotey recounted.

A displaced person, Mr Yao Ablame, who spent Sunday night at a sister’s place said, he slept under a mosquito net on a bench because there was no spare room to accommodate him and appealed for government support to end their perennial suffering.

Another resident, Ms Makafui Atayi said “we were lucky that this weekend’s happened in the evening and not at night when we were asleep because that would have been more serious.”

Assembly member for Agavedzi, Mr Eben Assah who said he would welcome a temporary structure to house the affected people, appealed to the government for an extension of the sea defence wall to these areas to secure not just the coastline but human lives.

He said the sea used to be far away from the community and the current location been ravaged by the sea used to be the community’s sacred forest but all that was gone due to the coastal erosion and feared, the Keta-Denu Road might be lost in no time.

Assembly member for Amutinu-Salakope, Mr Sylvester Kumawu, added his voice for the continuation of the sea defense project discounting the option of a permanent relocation which he said would not be in the interest of the people, mostly fisher folks as their livelihoods would be lost.