About 202 house­holds comprising more than 1,520 people have been displaced by the floods that hit Ewusiejoe, a farming community in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region on Thursday.

The affected persons have there­fore appealed to the government to provide some relief items to mitigate their suffering.

“It’s not easy, it’s just by the grace of God. The number of displaced persons keeps increasing and we’re still counting. If help does not come early enough, the displaced would have nowhere to sleep,” Assembly­man for Ewusiejoe Electoral Area, John Odoom, told the Ghanaian Times on Sunday.

He said the situation had wors­ened as the displaced, including children, had no food to eat because their homes had been destroyed.

“How do they get food to eat? There’s not much cooking outside because of the situation at hand, everybody is traumatised,” Mr Odoom said.

He said that another challenge in maintenance of the displaced was how to get an alternative place since school re-opens on Tuesday.

He told the Ghanaian Times “For now, we are keeping the displaced at the Ewusiejoe M/A Basic School and the girls’ school. Immediately, school reopens we must leave. The schools are reopening on Tuesday. Where are we going to accommo­date them?”

Mr Odoom, therefore, reiterated his appeal to the assembly, govern­ment and corporate institutions and philanthropists, to assist Ewusiejoe with tents for the displaced house­holds stressing that “the situation keeps changing each day.”

For now, he said, WAYOE Engi­neering Company (WEC) had since the disaster on Thursday, distributed cooked food to the displaced while Norplam Limited had also donated 40 mosquito nets, 11 bags of rice and two drums of palm oil.

“The Municipal Assembly had also donated some bags of rice for the upkeep of the displaced,” MrO­doom told the Ghanaian Times .

The National Disaster Manage­ment Organisation (NADMO) and officials of the Ahanta West Assem­bly, he said, had also visited the area to assess the situation.

“The flood is a huge challenge. The water level had subsided, but, the swiftness of the flow continues from up north River Butre, that’s from the Benso-Mpohor direction,” he said.

Hours of torrential rain hit Ewusiejoe on Thursday, leaving many homes submerged and caus­ing damage to properties.

The situation was exacerbated by River Butre, which overflowed its banks and caused a huge devastation at Ewusiejoe.

Heavy rains hit the area from about 6.45am on Wednesday and by evening, water from River Butre from northern end, had overrun Ewusiejoe, submerged homes and shops.

It also swept property including foodstuffs, essential commodities, furniture, fridges, vehicles, tricycles and shops.

May God provide for them in all ways.

FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, EWUSIEJOE