Ho residents rescue driver, 2 passengers

Local residents acted swiftly to avert tragedy, when a car which was crossing a culvert near the Ho Central Market was dragged off the road into the stream during a downpour on Thursday.

The residents defied the dreadful current, and rescued the driver and two female passengers on board the vehicle during the deluge.

Personnel of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Ghana National Fire Service, National Ambulance Service and the police also turned up at the scene in a jiffy and retrieved the Toyota Corolla, GM 4688 -14.

The Volta Regional Director of NADMO, Mr Divine Bosson, told the Ghanaian Times in Ho on Friday that the driver and the two women were rushed to the Ho Teaching Hospital, where they were treated and discharged.

He said that NADMO was on high alert, following signals indicating advancing thunderstorms amid downpours from Nigeria through Benin and Togo towards Ghana.

“So we passed the information to all our municipal and district offices in the region before the severe weather condition started at about 1600,” Mr Bosson said.

In Ho, Mr Bosson said, the floods were everywhere, but there was no human casualty, and commended the residents, who rescued the driver and passengers for their communal spirit.

However, he cautioned residents, especially children, against wading through and playing in floods during downpours of that nature, which he said was life threatening.

Apart from Ho, communities in the Ave traditional area and the Agotime-Ziope district were held to a standstill by the four-hour downpour, which was preceded by dark clouds hovering just metres above ground.

FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO