<<Print>>

Agencies and organisations responsible for disaster management have been urged to come up with integrated monitoring and alerting systems, for effective flood management.

This would help mitigate the devastating effects of flooding on people, animals, crops and material goods, as the country is yet to experience this year’s major rainy season.

Mr Tettey Portuphy, Head of the forecasting section of the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA) at the Kotoka International Airport, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on some key aspects of the GMA’s seasonal forecast.

He said the rainy season also increased the risk of sanitation related ailments such as cholera, dengue fever, and diarrhoea.
The Senior Meteorologist said it was crucial to strengthen national health systems, and also intensify collaboration between the meteorological and health services.

Mr Portuphy noted that there was the need to have stocks of mosquito nets available because it was typical for mosquito breeding to intensify during the rainy season.

He said anti-malaria drugs as well as water treatment products should also be made available, to mitigate the negative effects of high mosquito populations, which was characteristic of the rainy season.

Mr Portuphy explained that improved irrigation methods should be employed during the season for better yield, adding that arrangements such as the availability of fertilizers and improved seeds and other needed farming inputs should be made generally to support farming activities during the season, such as.

He said this year’s rainy season will start in the Northern Region around the third and fourth week of April, whilst the Upper-East region will experience theirs around the first and second week in May.
Mr Portuphy said the season will begin between the fourth week in April and first week in May for the Upper West region.

Touching on how the rainy season was expected to be in and around the Greater Accra Region, Mr. Portuphy said whilst the season was expected to be not much different from that of 2017, it was expected that the rains would intensify as the season progressed.

He said the Northern Region and the Upper West regions were expected to have more rains this year than in 2017, whilst the Upper-East Region was expected to have less rainfall than 2017.

Whilst Southern Ghana has two rainy seasons consisting of a major and minor season, the Northern Region of Ghana has one major rainy season.