A video circulating online has revealed the staggering scale of rubbish and debris accumulation beneath Accra’s drainage channels, after yesterday’s heavy flooding pushed thick mounds of waste to the surface in areas across the capital.
The video shows a drainage channel near a market area completely choked with debris broken wooden structures, scattered refuse, and torn materials caught on overhead electrical infrastructure while floodwater continues to flow through the area.
A man is seen wading through the murky water at the edge of the wreckage, surveying the damage.
The scenes have reignited long-standing warnings from environmental advocates and city planners that blocked and poorly maintained drainage channels remain one of the primary drivers of Accra’s recurring flood disasters, with indiscriminate waste disposal compounding the city’s vulnerability to heavy rainfall.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources had not issued an official statement addressing the rubbish exposed by this week’s floods as of press time.
Yesterday’s flooding crisis has affected numerous parts of the capital, including Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Achimota Mile 7, the Spintex to Polo Grounds corridor, and the University of Ghana’s Mensah Sarbah Hall, with the newly exposed waste underscoring one of the disaster’s underlying causes.
Calls have intensified for a comprehensive desilting and waste management programme ahead of future rainy seasons, with critics arguing that reactive cleanups after each flood do little to address the structural roots of the problem.
Watch the video HERE.
