"It is our time to Swim for Free": Floods in Ghana, 1930-2026

Abstract

Background: This paper investigated and contributed to knowledge on flood risk perception, flood survival skills, and causes of flood emergencies; resulting in drowning deaths, the collapse of buildings and infrastructure.
Objective: It aimed to demonstrate the need for having surviving skills against flash floods. It threw light on some of the socio-economic effect on the citizens that have experienced internal displacement due to the destruction of their settlements, and on the capabilities and functioning of the people. It attempted to answer the questions whether Ghanaians prefer destruction and death from floods since the 1930s till now in 2026? Whether that explains why there has been no national strategy to solve the flood challenges?
Methods: Case-study approach to investigate flooding episodes in Ghana since the 1930s, with documentary review of reported studies and cases of building collapse, drowning, the reasons for such outcomes during the period.
Results: There are avoidable fatalities due to drowning, poor national rescue strategies and tactics observed about the interventions of the first responders. In some cases, a few confined masonry buildings collapsed, alongside a significant number of traditional buildings. Ghana also suffers from swimming skills deficit, including some first responders with minimal or zero swimming skills and minimal flood risk appreciation. It was revealed that there are many groups of the youth, homeowners, district and regional assemblies that profit from the floods as revealed in the paper.
Discussion: It has emerged that the successive governments of the nation have been lackadaisical about flood prevention and intervention, although these government leaders have also announced resilience measures which were just for the optics. There is no national flood emergency preparedness scheme, and if there is one, it is only on paper. The frequency of flooding incidents should have motivated the government authorities to pay attention to the phenomena but it appears, once the rainy season is over, the threat from floods is also considered as over.
Conclusions: It appears, the floods provided opportunities for the people to swim for free, to dispose of their domestic solid and liquid waste for free, and some of the district and municipal authorities saved money when the garbage on the streets was swept away by the floods for free, even if some people drowned and died. It was harvest time when the government provided financial support to re-build lost opportunities in business. This is probably the greatest motivating factor for the lack of innovative approaches to flood management, emergency preparedness, risk communication and the provision of credible interventions against floods.