“There could be disease outbreaks and devastating long-term impacts on hunger as 200,000 hectares remain covered by water,” Mumuni said.

The press release stated that the “current level of assistance from the government and other partners has been insufficient to meet the overwhelming needs of the affected population.” Those needs include “food, shelter, clothing, and safe drinking water.”

Devastating flooding occurred in October 2023 when the Akosombo and Kpong dams were subject to a controlled spillage that caused a devastating flood in Lake Volta in the southeastern part of Ghana. Credit: IAWGE (Inter-Agency Working Group on Emergency)

Some displaced residents “have found shelter in ‘safe havens,’ established by the government in schools and churches in the districts of Central Tongu and North Tongu,” CRS said. Mumuni said these havens were offering victims of the floods “some relief.”

“But the longer families are removed from their homes, the longer their children are missing school, and the larger the impact gets on their lives,” he pointed out.

The flooding has disrupted “water and power supplies, health services, and education,” CRS said. Further risks were present from “waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid.”