By Lawrence Williams
Heavy rainstorms from Guinea have left in its wake widespread destruction of 167 buildings and over 7,000 hectares of farmlands in several chiefdoms in Sierra Leone, with thousands of households, including hospitals, schools, and worship places severely impacted, the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said on Monday. These incidents have sharply disrupted local economies, with many roads remaining impassable for more than a week.
“The NDMA has recorded 27 flood-affected communities, impacting 3,330 households and directly affecting the livelihoods of 23,596 people,” the agency reports.
Although Sierra Leone experienced heavy rains between July and September, the agency said that these alone were not sufficient to cause such widespread destruction there. Instead, they attributed the deluge to “transboundary precipitation from Guinea.”
It explained further that the heavy rains in Guinea caused rivers from the Futa Jallon highlands to overflow and empty into the Atlantic Ocean, consequently resulting in severe flooding in Sierra Leone.
“The heavy rains in Guinea caused flooding, with rivers originating from the Futa Jallon Highlands overflowing and emptying into the Atlantic, leading to severe flooding in Sierra Leone,” the NDMA said.
But flooding is not the only cause of building collapses in Sierra Leone. In the capital city of Freetown, more than a dozen buildings have fallen into pieces since the start of the year, including a seven-storey building at Shell New Road, a prominent business centre in the east of Freetown.
The collapse of these structures have been attributed to the use of substandard building materials, poor construction and the involvement of quack engineers, according to the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers, but no one has yet been held accountable. With more corpses than survivors recovered from those rubble, these incidents could have long-term devastating effects on the affected families, and their loss could forever be irreparable.