RAINSTORM CAUSES HAVOC AT DUAYAW-NKWANTA (PAGE 21)

PUBLISHED MARCH 18

Story: Samuel Duodu, Duayaw-Nkwanta

A severe rainstorm hit Duayaw-Nkwanta, the capital of the Tano North District in the Brong Ahafo Region, and its environs at the weekend, rendering many people homeless.
Some of the victims are staying with their relatives and friends while others are putting up in classrooms.
The rain disaster has worsened the plight of the people in the area. Two weeks ago, a bushfire burnt down 16 communities destroying a lot of property and 900 bags of maize.
No casualties or injuries were recorded in both disasters but property estimated at GH¢10 million was destroyed.
The storm ripped off the roofs of both public and individual buildings, the most seriously affected ones being the Duayaw Nkwanta Girls’ Vocational Institute and Dwenase Primary School.
The communities affected by the bushfire included Brede and Sereso, both farming communities, which had their farmlands and crops including 500 and 400 bags of maize, respectively, destroyed.
The District NADMO Co-ordinator, Mr Isaac B. Kyere, who briefed the Daily Graphic team that toured the affected communities, described the situation as a double agony, since the district was hit by the rainstorm and a bush fire within of two weeks.
According to Mr Kyere, he, in the company of the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Nicholas Lenin Anane Agyei, and other officials from the district assembly, had visited the towns affected by the disasters to sympathise with the victims.
He stated that the district assembly had already gone to the aid of the victims, while the District NADMO office had also mobilised some second-hand clothing for their upkeep.
The District NADMO Co-ordinator, however, made a passionate appeal to the NADMO headquarters in Accra, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Ernest Debrah, who is also the Minister of Food and Agriculture, and others to come to the aid of the victims.
Mr Kyere disclosed that one Karikari from Susuanho, a farming community in the district, had been arrested as the prime suspect for the bushfire and had been remanded in prison custody by the Duayaw Nkwanta Circuit Court.
He appealed to the people to desist from bush burning, adding that even though the rains had begun early setting bush fire was still dangerous.