Residents blame poor drainage planning for deadly Lakeside floods

Residents in Lakeside, Adentan Municipality, blame engineers for recent flooding. They say the East Legon Hills road construction diverted all drains to one outlet. This caused heavy floods on May 18, claiming three lives and damaging homes and businesses.

Residents criticize the drainage system's design. Multiple water channels were funneled into a single outlet. They believe this led to the deadly overflow.

Prince Ansah, a local resident and business owner, spoke to JoyNews. He pointed out that the contractor is responsible for the issues. “Whenever it rains, we suffer a lot here,” he said. He believes the contractor should have built deeper gutters and covered them properly.

Ansah also mentioned that construction was poorly executed and left unfinished. “The gutter was only built halfway,” he explained. The incomplete drainage causes water to back up and flood the area.

He shared how flooding affected him personally. “The water damaged my car due to blocked drainage,” he said. He added that driving through flooded roads is impossible now.

Another resident, Alex Narh, expressed frustration over the drainage plan. He noted that a main drain from Katamanso redirected smaller drains into their community. This causes upstream water to flow down into Lakeside.

Narh also highlighted issues with buildings blocking natural water paths. He called for government intervention in future projects. “Officials should inspect where roads lead and how gutters are placed,” he urged.

He emphasized the need for better planning during construction projects. “The rain from Oyarifa and Katamanso all ended up here,” he stated.

Narh concluded with an appeal for action from the government. “Lives have been lost, and properties destroyed,” he said urgently. He urged officials to hold engineers accountable and ensure proper inspections during construction work.