Several residents in Gbalaswah community, district #16, Montserrado County, have flee their homes as a result of the heavy downpour of rain, which has caused flooding and disrupted normal business and school activities in the area.
Speaking in an interview, Gbalaswah Community Chairman, Mohammed Sheriff, on Friday, June 17, 2022 said the flood situation is due to the heavy downpour of rain late Thursday night.
Chairman Sheriff noted that, despite the effort of his leadership and the support from the residents to clean all the major drainages, the water cannot get out because the main point has been blocked.
According to him, the water no longer passes freely like before since the old train track located around the Kanga Building fell completely to the ground, thus preventing the water.
“Last night at about 12:00 a.m., people were shouting about the flood when the rain was falling; children nearly drowned while others were immediately relocated to my house because their homes were overtaken by the flood.
“We are living in fear now. We have been opening the drainage, but the old train track around Kanga Building fell, the market people are putting dirt there so it came down,” Sheriff added.
Meanwhile, the Gbalaswah Community Chairman has put the cost to settle the flooding situation at US$700 aimed at renting a yellow machine to do the work.
He said there may be negotiation between the machine operators and the helper, adding that the only thing needed is for the machine to remove the old train track from the waterway.
Mohammed Sheriff is however seeking the swift intervention of the district’s lawmaker, Representative Dixon Seboe, including representative-hopeful Roland Fannoh, Robert Teah and Sylvester Wonplue, and other humanitarians.
He predicted that the situation might lead to an unprecedented disaster in the next one month, if stakeholders and the government fail to come in and help.
