Concord Times (Freetown)
Ben Samuel Turay and Tanu Jalloh
12 September 2008
Freetown — An estimated 1,000 people were yesterday left homeless after violent rains washed away small huts made of corroded zinc, corrugated sheet or tarpaulin in Freetown's overcrowded slums of Kroo Bay.
Almost half of the displaced persons tentatively sought refuge at the community centre; a mall building free enough only to accommodate less than two hundred people.
A senior engineer observed that year in year out the pig infested settlement suffers from similar disaster but that the government was doing little or nothing to solve the problem.
"They could be resettled into other areas preferably Jui or anywhere after there. The government should redesign the flood prone area of Kroo Bay and prevent people from residing there before we lose many lives and property some day," he said.
Meanwhile, the wailing community looks forward for help from humanitarian organizations. A middle aged woman Mahawa Kanu told Concord Times that situations at the centre were already terrible before the four hour rains could cease.
"People could not use the toilet and children were asked to defecate wherever they were for fear that water could sweep them along. My family and I have come here to seek refuge. As you can see we are over three hundred here," Kanu said.
However, one child was already feared missing. Kanu said her neighbour's child could not be found after the heavy down pour but that able bodied men were already out to confirm the perceived loss.
Mohamed Turay, an unemployed young man who was fast asleep when it started raining said "nobody will sleep at Kroo Bay today. The water has taken all over the place." He added: "I got to know that the rain was heavy when I saw water entered my room. I first climbed on my chair but it was still heavy and I had to climb up the house." Turay has lived in the community for the past 7 years but confessed that he has never experienced such violent floods.
Community chairman Murray Conteh said some 1,000 people might have been sent out of their houses by Thursday's flooding.
The United Nations has established a regional food store in Ghana because of the floods that caused havoc across West Africa in recent weeks. Togo, Ghana, Niger, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal have all suffered deaths because of this year's floods.
While it called on the region to come up with other longer-term strategies to deal with the destruction, Sierra Leone, the latest country to suffer from flood, was yet to put in place any visible short term measure.
The number of death toll after the disaster in Freetown may have risen to at least 32 people, displacing almost 140,000, and damaging infrastructure since the disaster struck the region recently.
Unlike other countries where the UN has provided food and temporary shelter for flood affected people Kroo Bay in Freetown has never received any major support after such seasonal flooding.
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