Several residents in the flood prone areas of Tamale were rendered homeless and their properties destroyed by Monday’s heavy rains, reports said. One of the hardest hit areas was Bulpela in the Tamale south constituency.
The Tamale Metropolitan Directorate of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) said 343 residents were displaced and 29 houses destroyed. The victims comprised of 94 male adults, 83 female adults, 62 boys and 108 girls.
Residents blamed city authorities for failing to build access roads and said the lack of these combined with a poor drainage system in the area accounted for their suffering. Though residents readily admitted that there is some construction of feeder roads in the area, they were also quick to point out that the current state of the roads in Bulpela in particular was worsening their situation.
The residents who lived closer to the Bulpela dam claimed that several appeals to the MP for the area, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, to help them yielded no positive results.
They commended the late Alhaji Mustapha Ali Iddris for his tremendous efforts in opening up Bulpela and appealed to the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and the MP to find a lasting solution to the over three years’ flooding situation in the area.
The National Disaster Management Organization says Tamale south (Bulpela and Vitin)was the worst affected area in Monday’s rain and described it as the heaviest this year.