Akosombo Dam spillage: Presbyterian Church supports Mepe flood victims with relief items

The New Jersey District of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has donated relief items to support members of the church who were affected by the recent floods in the Volta Region as a result of the Akosombo Dam spillage.

The team, led by the district's Minister, who doubles as the Clerk of the North America and Australia Presbytery, Rev. Dr. Ransford K Awuku-Gyampoh, and accompanied by the church's Catechist, Peter Deku, and Nana Agyemang on Sunday, November 19, 2023, handed over the relief items to the Okuapem Presbytery Church in Koforidua.

The relief items donated in support of the flood victims in Mepe were four motorbikes, clothes, bags of rice, gallons of oil, and packs of bottled water.

The New Jersey District Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Dr. Ransford K Awuku-Gyampoh in an interview said the spillage has rendered some members of the church in the Mepe area hopeless hence, as representatives of the church, it is important to support and give some comfort to the flood victims.

Rev. Dr. Ransford K Awuku-Gyampoh further noted that 'The church needs to stand firm amidst the crises and help the victims to get back to their feet".

The Reverend Minister backed calls for relocation of the flood victims saying, "I will appeal to the President H. E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to please use his powers to help relocate these friends, parents, and siblings of ours".

"We believe that if they get a good place to live especially there are students who for this reason cannot go to school and at the end of the year they are going to write BECE and WASSCE and what happens to them, so for the sake of the future let us help these children and our parents as well and we must not

deprive them of their lives", he added.

The Chairperson of the Okuapem Presbytery, Rev. Ebenezer Acheampong Asiedu received the donated items and highlighted the usefulness of the items to the flood victims and the church.

"The four motorbikes for Okuapem and Damgbe-Tongu will help us to increase our

numbers to bring more souls to Christ and the kingdom. When the flood occurred, many people lost everything including their clothing and so this is going to help them have clothes to wear for church and work".

Rev. Ebenezer Acheampong Asiedu applauded the New Jersey District team led by for the kind gesture.

Background:

The Volta River Authority (VRA) began the controlled water spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on September 15, 2023, due to the consistent rise in the inflow pattern and water level of the Akosombo reservoir.

Meanwhile, an intense rainfall that caused a massive influx of water into these dams led to a catastrophic flood displacing over 26,000 people in October 2023.

Nine districts along the river and downstream of the lake were all impacted. Seven districts downstream including the Tongu area, Asuogyaman, Anlo, and Ada East witnessed significant flooding.

Mepe, a town in the North Tongu District also submerged forcing its residents to evacuate.