The death toll from the flooding that paralysed Accra, the Ghanaian capital on Monday has risen to 12, according to emergency services on Tuesday.
The floods, triggered by torrential rain that submerged roads and homes, shops and offices across Accra on Monday, prompted hundreds of rescues by men of the fire service and other emergency workers.
Local media reports said that emergency workers were on rescue mission through the night, evacuating persons who were trapped by flood water.
“The death toll has risen to more than 12,” the National Fire Service spokesman, Alex King Nartey told journalists on Tuesday.
Nartey said that the number could increase because several people were still missing.
He explained that the victims included a married couple as well as a mother and child.
The reports quoted the fire service as saying that more than 400 persons were rescued and that the fire service crews on Tuesday pumped water from homes and assisted stranded residents in flood-hit areas.
The reports added that the Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak said late on Monday that nine persons died as a result of the flooding in Accra.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s President John Mahama has ordered the immediate release of 300 million cedis (about $29 million) in contingency funds for relief efforts and flood mitigation measures.
He also ordered the deployment of the military and police men to support rescue operations.
Mahama stated that 140 millimetres (5.5 inches) of rain fell on Accra in a single day and that it was “the highest experienced in several years” and nearly triple last year’s high.
President Mahama also said on X that the problem was “beyond our control because it is driven by changing climatic conditions”.
GIK/APA