The rain had stopped, but the floodwater remained. Across several communities in Accra and Tema, families emerged from submerged homes to salvage what little they could. Mattresses soaked beyond repair lay outside. School books floated in muddy water. Shop owners counted their losses while vehicles remained stranded in waterlogged streets.
For many Ghanaians, these scenes have become painfully familiar. Every rainy season brings the same questions, the same destruction and the same promises. But beneath the floodwaters lies an uncomfortable truth.
While climate change and intense rainfall contribute to flooding, many of Ghana’s flood disasters are worsened by something entirely within human control—poor waste disposal.
The recent floods that swept through parts of Greater Accra claimed lives, displaced families, destroyed businesses and forced emergency agencies into rescue operations. Government officials who toured affected communities pointed to blocked drainage systems, poor sanitation and development along waterways as major contributors to the disaster.
The flood did not begin when the rain started. It began long before—with every plastic bag thrown into a gutter, every refuse dump left beside a drain and every waterway turned into a dumping site.
A Drain Is Not a Dustbin
Walk through many urban communities and the evidence is impossible to ignore. Plastic bottles, sachet water rubbers, food containers, old clothes and household waste fill gutters that were designed to carry storm water safely away. Instead of flowing freely, rainwater meets walls of garbage. When the downpour intensifies, drains overflow, roads become rivers and homes become islands.
Environmental experts have consistently identified indiscriminate waste disposal as one of the leading causes of urban flooding in Ghana. Poor sanitation combines with inadequate drainage maintenance, rapid urbanisation and construction on waterways to create disasters that repeat themselves year after year.
Ironically, many of the items responsible for blocking drains are products used for only a few minutes but remain in the environment for decades.
The Price We Pay
Floods are often measured by damaged buildings and lost property. Yet the greatest cost is human life.
Recent flooding across Accra and surrounding communities resulted in multiple deaths, hundreds of rescues and widespread destruction of homes, roads and businesses. Emergency services worked around the clock to evacuate stranded residents while government announced emergency response measures and relief efforts.
For traders, floodwaters wash away months of investment.
For schoolchildren, education is interrupted.
For workers, businesses close and incomes disappear.
For vulnerable families, rebuilding can take years.
When the Water Recedes, Disease Arrives
The danger does not end when floodwaters disappear. In many cases, the health crisis begins afterwards. Floodwater often mixes with sewage, refuse, chemicals and human waste before entering homes and communities. Wells and other drinking water sources become contaminated, exposing residents to waterborne diseases.
Health experts warn that floods significantly increase the risk of cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea and hepatitis due to contaminated water and poor sanitation. Stagnant pools of water also become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, increasing cases of malaria in the weeks following floods.
Children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable.
Respiratory infections can also increase as damp homes encourage mould growth, while the emotional trauma of losing homes, livelihoods and loved ones often leaves lasting psychological scars.
Flood recovery is therefore not only about rebuilding roads. It is about restoring health, dignity and hope.
Poor waste management has become more than an environmental issue. It is now an economic and public health challenge.
A recent study by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) estimates that Ghana loses billions of cedis annually through diseases and economic losses linked to poor sanitation and waste management. The report argues that investment in proper waste management yields enormous economic and public health benefits.
Simply put, every gutter kept clean is an investment in national development.
Beyond Government
Flood prevention cannot be left to government alone. Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies must enforce sanitation by-laws, improve waste collection and regularly desilt drains. Urban planners must prevent construction on waterways. Waste management companies must expand efficient refuse collection.
But citizens also have responsibilities. Every plastic bottle thrown into a gutter, every bag of rubbish dumped into a drain and every illegal refuse site created within a neighbourhood contributes to the next flood disaster. Changing these habits may save lives.
The Way Forward
Flooding is often described as a natural disaster. In Ghana, however, much of the destruction is preventable.
If communities embrace proper waste disposal, if authorities consistently enforce environmental regulations and if sanitation becomes a shared national responsibility rather than a seasonal campaign, many flood disasters can be significantly reduced.
The next heavy rain will certainly come. Whether it becomes another national tragedy depends largely on the choices made long before the clouds gather.
By Selina Narkie Nartey (UniMac student)
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