Children Evacuated From Schoolhouse in Ghana Amid Severe Flooding

Ghanian firefighters evacuated children from a flooded schoolhouse in Cape Coast on Tuesday, May 24, officials said, amid severe flooding across the region.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) reported rescue workers responded to a distress call from the Mustard Seed Academy, located in Cape Coast, and evacuated 32 students trapped in classrooms.

Heavy rainfall lasted over seven hours in Accra on Monday, according to the Ghanian Times, destroying property, causing accidents, and forcing some residents to flee their homes.

The Ghana Meteorological Agency said the public should “brace for more rain” in the coming days as the country approaches the peak of its rainy season.

This video shared by the GNFS shows the evacuation of the school. Credit: Ghana National Fire Service via Storyful

影片文字轉錄稿

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- A distress call from Mustard Seed Academy, one of the schools, the creche schools, and the Cape Coast Metro Police that there had been a flooding incident in their environment. We went there and we realized that it was due to the rains that were coming from highlands to this low lying area. We had to do the evacuation [INAUDIBLE]. We made sure that it was effective.

But then after the evacuation, we assessed the situation, and we realized that there are new crops of building that are being built in the same environment, which is blocking the waterways. In fact, it's very bad, and we must make sure that these things are being checked. We had to evacuate the kids from their various classrooms to a higher ground. So I employed my two men to help aid in that activity.

We had to evacuate almost close to 32 kids from the classrooms. After that, the school called the parents so that they could come in for their kids. But then we had to talk to the proprietor of the school as well [INAUDIBLE] it would be better if the school is given a facelift by way of filling the environment with--

[GOATS SCREAMING]

We realized that the school compound needed to be filled in order to avert any of this happening in the near future.