Death toll in Accra floods hits 14

At least 14 people including eight males and six females died in the flush floods following the torrential rains that hit the Ghanian capital city Acrra last week, the West African country's disaster relief agency announced on Monday. Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) Kofi Portuphy told the media at a gathering to receive relief items for the victims that the floods also displaced 43,000 people in the suburbs and around Accra. Vodafone Ghana Foundation donated relief items including blankets, mats, buckets, basins, plates, mosquito nets, cooking oil, sugar soap, milk, rice and clothing to the flood victims in the hardest hit areas. Director of External Affairs of Vodafone Foundation Patrick Boateng said the presentation was to implement its objectives to respond to emergencies such as the one caused by the floods. He appealed to the public to contribute through "Red Alert", an emergency fundraising platform set up by the telecommunication company to enables customers to make donations. The floods, one of the worst experienced in and around Accra in recent years, caused extensive damage to buildings, roads and other infrastructure that ran into millions of dollars. Accra has had a perennial problem with floods, caused mainly by haphazard development, flouting of building regulations, building on waterways and dumping of refuse in drains and culverts.