A 53-year-old mother of three has been confirmed dead after she was swept away by floodwaters at Anloga-Susuakyi in the Oforikrom Municipality of the Ashanti region.
The body of Akosua Dufie, a second-hand clothing dealer, was retrieved on Friday morning by a search party about 500 meters from the scene in the Susuan stream.
She was returning home from the market on Thursday evening when the flood swept her and others away from following the collapse of a five-meter wooden footbridge they were using.
The incident occurred at about 5 pm when the deceased was a few minutes away from home whilst returning from the market.
Madam Dufie is the second person to die in the Kumasi floods this week after a two-year-old boy, Mohammed Awal, was swept away similarly at Sawaba.
The bridge collapsed few minutes a young man, John Loga, who witnessed the incident, warned residents, including the deceased, not to lump up on the bridge since it was weak.
“It happened yesterday evening when there was a downpour around 5:30 pm there about and it was flooded. We have not experienced this flood before because the bridge that we have constructed is high.
“A lot of people were trying to cross the bridge to other communities. Even for them to do one at a time, it would have helped by the time, but all of them decided to walk on the bridge.
“That unfortunate incident has happened, and we have lost a life. It is not something that we can celebrate, “Assemblyman for the area Solomon Kumi confirmed to Joy News.
The bridge collapse means a field day for school children who could not cross to Susuanakyi to attend classes because that community has been cut off.
The incident has angered residents of Anloga and Susuanakyi as they blame government’s failure to construct a concrete bridge over the Susuan stream.
The wooden bridge has been fixed five times in less than a year through a community self-initiated project led by the assembly member of the area.
According to them, several appeals to government to provide the community with a concrete bridge has fallen on deaf ears.
The angry residents have given a two-week ultimatum to the government to respond to their concerns or march to the Oforikrom Municipal Assembly to demand what was due.
“I am going to organize my people. There would be a massive demonstration. Although they say we are in Covid era, I am going to beat that protocol and make sure that what Anloga we need, normally get it,” says Mr Kumi.
According to him though the assembly has awarded a contract for constructing new bridge drawings of it he has seen, the contractor is yet to move to the site because funds are yet to be released.
