President John Dramani Mahama has announced 5,000 bags of cement to support residents whose homes were destroyed by flooding in the Hohoe Municipality.
The President made the announcement on Friday when he visited the Hohoe Zongo to assess the extent of the damage and interact with residents displaced by the floods.
The flooding, which followed continuous rainfall and the overflow of the River Dayi, affected several low-lying communities and displaced more than 5,000 residents.
President Mahama said the cement donation, pledged by the owner of Dzata Cement, would support households whose buildings had collapsed or been destroyed by the floodwaters.
“The owner of Dzata Cement, who happens to be my younger brother, has also promised 5,000 bags of cement to help the people whose houses have been destroyed,” he said.
He directed the Hohoe Member of Parliament, the Municipal Chief Executive and the Volta Regional Minister to ensure that the cement and other relief items were distributed fairly to residents directly affected by the disaster.
President Mahama also presented relief items to displaced residents as part of efforts to support their immediate needs and recovery.
He attributed the flooding to increasingly unpredictable weather patterns associated with climate change, noting that extreme rainfall events were becoming more difficult to anticipate.
“There’s something we call climate change. And so it’s leading to what we call extreme weather phenomena,” he said.
According to the President, rainfall in neighbouring Togo contributed to increased water levels in the River Dayi, resulting in the flooding of communities along the river, particularly low-lying areas around Hohoe Zongo.
He said the recent pattern of excessive rainfall followed by periods of drought demonstrated the changing nature of weather conditions and the challenges it posed to communities.
President Mahama commended traditional authorities, the Hohoe Municipal Assembly, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and other government agencies for their response to the disaster.
He also conveyed sympathies from his wife, Lordina Mahama, to residents who had been affected by the floods.
The President’s visit comes as affected residents call for longer-term interventions to address the underlying causes of flooding and reduce the risk of similar disasters in the municipality.
The immediate response has focused on providing relief to displaced households, while the announced cement donation is expected to assist families whose homes require reconstruction.
