By Dr Robert Kwaku Adjei Flooding Is Not Entirely Natural Every rainy season, flooding returns to Accra and many other towns and cities across Ghana. Homes are submerged, businesses suffer heavy losses, roads become impassable, public infrastructure is damaged, and, tragically, lives are sometimes lost. After every major flood, public attention quickly turns to government, climate change, drainage systems, or rainfall intensity. While these are undoubtedly important factors, they do not tell the whole story. The uncomfortable truth is that many of our floods are preventable. Rain may be natural, but flooding on the scale we repeatedly experience is largely a human-made disaster. Every year, thousands of tonnes of plastic waste, silt, sand, household refuse, and construction debris enter drains, streams, lagoons, and rivers. As these drainage channels become blocked, stormwater has nowhere to flow, leading to widespread flooding. The current flooding in Accra and several parts of ...