Richmond Amponsah
Gideon Abagna Azunre
July 22nd, 2026
Is there a solution to Accra’s constant flooding?
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Is there a solution to Accra’s constant flooding?
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Accra’s annual floods are predictable, but their devastation is not inevitable. Addressing this crisis requires Ghana to shift from reactive rescue to proactive investment in emergency readiness, community-led sanitation practices, and stronger urban governance before the rains arrive, write Richmond Amponsah and Gideon Abagna Azunre.
Every Ghanaian frets about June. Once again, on 29 June 2026, heavy rainfall brought several parts of Accra, Ghana’s capital, to a standstill. Roads became rivers; homes and businesses were inundated with water; and emergency responders were stretched, scrambling to respond to incidents across the city. These scenes are no longer shocking; they have become an expected feature of the rainy season.
Flooding in Accra is often described as a natural disaster caused by heavy rainfall. But rainfall alone does not explain why the city experiences devastating floods year after year. The real disaster lies in decades of poor urban planning, weak enforcement of regulations, and inadequate drainage infrastructure. These structural issues are exacerbated by behaviours that undermine environmental stewardship and flood risk reduction, as well as by a reactive rather than proactive disaster management system.
The lessons of 2015 have not been learned
On 3 June 2015, heavy rains combined with a fuel station explosion at Kwame Nkrumah Circle resulted in one of Ghana’s worst urban disasters. More than 150 people lost their lives, thousands were displaced, and properties worth millions of Cedis were destroyed.
The disaster triggered widespread public outrage. Government agencies promised reforms; drainage systems were dredged; flood contingency plans were introduced; and discussions about urban resilience gained momentum. The World Bank also funded the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) program, providing the government with a whopping £259 million credit facility to implement a city-wide flood-resilient strategy along the city’s Odaw River Basin.
Despite this investment, many communities continue to experience severe flooding each rainy season. While emergency response capacity may have improved in some respects, the underlying drivers of flood risk have remained largely unchanged.
Floods are made worse by human decisions
Climate change is increasing extreme rainfall across sub-Saharan Africa, but it does not solely explain Accra’s recurring floods.
Rapid urbanisation has transformed much of the city. Wetlands that once absorbed stormwater have disappeared under concrete. Buildings have encroached on waterways. Drains are frequently blocked with solid waste, and many drainage channels are either undersized or poorly maintained. Many of these factors are behavioural in nature and are driven significantly by civic indiscipline.
At the same time, informal settlements and slums often occupy some of the city’s most flood-prone areas. Residents frequently understand the risks they face but have few realistic alternatives. Flood risk, therefore, reflects not only environmental conditions but also housing inequality, poverty, and flawed urban governance.
Ghana focuses on response than prevention
One of the clearest lessons from previous flood disasters is that Ghana continues to invest more heavily in responding to disasters than preventing them.
Emergency responders (e.g. the National Disaster Management Organisation [NADMO]) often work under difficult circumstances and deserve recognition for rescuing trapped residents, providing relief items, and coordinating recovery efforts. But emergency response begins only after people have already lost homes, livelihoods, or even their lives.
Reducing disaster losses requires investment long before the rain arrives. This includes maintaining drainage systems throughout the year, strengthening early warning systems, improving risk communication with vulnerable communities, enforcing planning regulations, and ensuring that local authorities have sufficient re
The World Bank’s GARID offered a promising investment pathway, but it was marred by contractor delays, corruption, political interference, and elite capture of re
Communities must become part of the solution
Proactiveness is imperative. For emergency services, this means shifting from post-disaster rescue to pre-disaster readiness by pre-positioning rescue equipment, such as inflatable boats and life jackets, in known flood hotspots before the rainy season and conducting localised evacuation drills with community leaders. Practising safe evacuation routes to designated shelters, such as schools and churches, during the dry season can help ensure that emergency response is coordinated, timely, and proactive rather than a seasonal scramble.
Building flood resilience cannot be left solely to national institutions or to a single silver-bullet program like GARID. Communities themselves should play a central role in disaster preparedness. Local flood committees, neighbourhood evacuation plans, public education campaigns, and community-based early warning systems can all help reduce loss of life during emergencies.
People are more likely to respond effectively when they understand the risks they face, trust the information they receive, and know exactly what actions to take before disaster strikes. Behavioural evidence shows that awareness alone is rarely enough; effective risk communication and community engagement are essential for translating knowledge into pro-environmental behaviours.
Community participation is particularly important in informal settlements, where residents often possess detailed local knowledge about flood patterns that can complement scientific forecasting and improve emergency planning.
The Rwanda Umuganda model offers one intriguing community-based solution. As a nationwide monthly community service programme, it brings citizens together in a common purpose to clear drains, clean public spaces, and undertake other local improvement projects. Its strength lies in transforming sanitation from an overlooked municipal responsibility into a shared civic value.
This should be complemented with other equally important punitive and incentive-based solutions, including phasing out single-use plastics and enacting strict penalties for illegal dumping.
Flooding should not be viewed as an emergency management problem. It is fundamentally a development challenge. Investments in better housing, improved sanitation, sustainable drainage infrastructure, effective waste management, and inclusive urban planning are all investments in disaster risk reduction. Every Cedi spent on prevention is likely to save far more than would later be required for emergency relief, healthcare, and reconstruction.
As climate change intensifies extreme weather, Ghana cannot afford to repeat the cycle of disaster, relief, and recovery every June. The floods witnessed in Accra should not simply become another headline that fades within days or an avenue to score political points. Instead, they should remind us that floods are among Ghana’s most predictable hazards. The real uncertainty is whether policymakers will finally shift from reacting to disasters after they occur to preventing them before lives and livelihoods are put at risk.
The rains are inevitable. The scale of destruction is not.
About the author
Richmond Amponsah
Richmond Amponsah recently defended his PhD at the Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, UK, where his research examined behavioural responses to pandemics and emergency preparedness in informal urban settlements. His interdisciplinary research spans environmental and urban health resilience, informality, human behaviour, emergency planning, community resilience and livelihoods.
Gideon Abagna Azunre
Gideon Abagna Azunre recently completed his PhD studies in Geography, Urban & Environmental Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. His dissertation examined the ‘landing’ of internationally financed slum redevelopment programs in Accra, Ghana’s capital, and a second-tier global city. Broadly speaking, his research interests sit at the intersection of informal urbanisation, socio-spatial marginalisation, and sustainable city development.
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