Eye Witness Report: Floods Are Tipping Gwira In Nzema East Into A Severe Food Crisis
The fifteen worse hit communities are Kukuavele, Attakrom, Ajomoro Eshiem, Bamiankor, Bokro Dominase, Gwira, Akosuno, Gwira Ashiem, Ampansie, ,Wiawso, Awolozo Akango, Duala, Kakukrom, Anibil, all in the Nzema East municipality.
Freeman Koryekpor 
The catastrophic floods in the fifteen (15) communities in Gwira Traditional Area of the Nzema East municipality in the Western Region have pushed these communities to the brink.
The fifteen worse hit communities are Kukuavele, Attakrom, Ajomoro Eshiem, Bamiankor, Bokro Dominase, Gwira, Akosuno, Gwira Ashiem, Ampansie, ,Wiawso, Awolozo Akango, Duala, Kakukrom, Anibil, all in the Nzema East municipality.
These floods follow, as a result of the heavy rainfalls which had caused Ankobra River to overflow its banks leaving lots of people homeless in the Nzema East municipality.
This was the most severe heatwave the municipality has faced in more than 60 years.
Across these 51areas, a total of 44,000 sq km (30,000 sq miles) of farmland were flooded. More than 80 percent of crops within the municipality were damaged, according to the investigations conducted by Soireenews.com.
This news outlet was reliably informed that thousands of hectares of standing food crops like rice, onions, tomatoes, cassava, maize, and other vegetables have been destroyed.
More roads and bridges have been damaged, causing significant disruptions to the transport of the food that has survived.
In a visit to some of the worse hit areas of the floods to do an assessment of the situation, this journalist found that more than 70 percent of individuals interviewed in these areas reported difficulty accessing any food, let alone nutritious food.
They lamented to this journalist that the roads of these communities, particularly in the Gwira Bamiankor were cut off as a result of the heavy rainfalls which had caused Ankobra River to overflow its banks.
They bemoaned that their cars, tricycles, television set, radio sets, mobile phones, monies, livestock and motorbikes submerged as the road of Gwira Bamiankor were completely taken over by the flood.
There have not been reports of any casualty, however, several houses submerged in the floods, causing destruction to properties.
The scores of the residents whose houses were completely submerged said all their properties have sunk in the flood water.
“Our everything is underwater now. My TV, sofas, bed, clothes, utensils, everything. Our entire houses are flooded and even collapsed. No the places were moved to settle, ten of us are sleeping in a single room ” some of the flood victims at Gwira Bamiankor told Soireenews.com.
In the Gwira Bamiankor, this journalist spotted many flood victims counting their losses and trying to seek shelter at safer places.
The journalist also saw the minors at the Anyinase who used locally manufactured canoes to dangerously cross the water which has flooded the road from the Anyinase to Bamiakor township which is the headquarters of the Gwira Traditional Area.
The situation is very risky since this journalist saw that the residents (passengers) who are crossing the water didn't did not wear the life jackets.
This was also very strange because the canoes of which the minors are using to cross the residents from Anyinase to Bamiakor were not safe.
Speaking in an interview with journalist, the Assembly member for Dominsase Electoral Area, Honourable James Ackpoh, Assembly member for Bamiakor Electoral Araa, Honourable Matthew Ampong and Assembly for Kukuavele Electoral Area, Honourable George lamented over the nagetive impact of the floods in these areas and called on the government to find a lasting solution to the perennial floods in these areas.
The two Assembly members stated that the floods have caused severe food shortages in these 15 communities
Mr. Ackpoh and Matthew Ampong called on the government to build bridges on the road from the Anyinase to Bamiakor to help avert perennial flooding in the area.
They blamed the illegal mining activities for severe floods that swept the 15 areas.
According to the two Assembly members,
more than thousands of people were also displaced by the floodwater which destroyed houses, roads and farms in the affected areas.
They added that cars, tricycles, television set, radio sets, mobile phones, monies, livestock and motorbikes submerged as the road of Gwira Bamiankor was completely taken over by the flood.
They pointed out that initial investigations showed that illegal miners had blocked the main river passage and diverted its course for their convenience.
The two assembly members who disclosed this in an interview with the journalists during the donation of the relief items to residents in the worst hit areas, said it was time to take concerted action with the help of communities against illegal mining which they called a social crime.
“The activities of the ‘galamsey’ operators (as illegal mining is known in Ghana) have caused enough damage to life and property and we in Gwira Traditional Area in the municipality can no longer allow them to continue,” they said.
They said 7,100 people were displaced in fifteen 15 communities in Nzema East around a major Akonbra river which had broken its banks.
“Apart from digging mud out all over the place, they (illegal miners) have also blocked the river passage and diverted the water course for the purposes of washing the dug-out metals,” they said.
