President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday visited areas in the Kumasi Metropolis that were affected by the Saturday floods.
The areas included the destroyed gutters at the Aboabo Junction and Airport roundabout, Aboabo River and the Angola junction, areas that were heavily affected by the disaster.
Addressing the people at Aboabo, President Mahama announced that he had authorised the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to send excavators to clean up all the choked gutters that led to the floods.
He said government would soon construct a new bridge on the Aboabo River to contain the heavy volumes of water that pass through after heavy rains.
In the interim, the President said measures would be put in place to avert the recurrence of such disasters, but cautioned the people to play their roles responsibly by keeping their environments clean.
President Mahama expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the floods. Heavy rainfall in Kumasi on Saturday June 27 resulted in heavy floods in Aboabo and other suburbs, leading to the death of one person.
The incident, which happened on the heels of a similar flood that claimed hundreds of lives in Accra, gained adequate airtime in the local media in the country and beyond. President Mahama's visit to Kumasi was therefore a response to the calls that government should work on the bridge to avert further disasters in the coming days.
He said government would do everything under its purview to change all the constructions that had over the period caused floods and other natural disasters throughout the metropolis.
Hundreds of residents who thronged the Aboabo river wielded placards some of which called on government to fix the bridge and other areas in the metropolis in order to avoid what happened there last week.
The President was accompanied by Mr Peter Anarfi-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Bonsu, Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi, officers of the National Disaster Management Organisation among other dignitaries.
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