By M’balu Little Kamara
Some victims of one of the latest flooding incidents in Freetown have blamed human activities for their predicament.
Kuntorloh in the east end of Freetown is one of several parts of the capital city that got flooded since the rainy season started this year. On Saturday, 3rd August heavy downpour in the community left at least one house destroyed.
Mabinty Kamara, a resident of the destroyed building along Tenneba Road blamed it on the actions of her neighbours who built their houses on water ways and dispose off wastes in waters which clogged the gutters, leading to the flood which destroyed their home.
A part of the elderly woman’s house got destroyed after water settled beside it.
“We have experienced a lot of damages especially when there are heavy midnight rains and that has led to destruction of our house,” she told ManoReporters.
Freetown has over the years had the highest recorded rate of flooding in Sierra Leone and, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), the city has been experiencing persistent torrential rains since July 1 this year.
Several properties, including dwelling homes have been destroyed due to heavy rains over the last few weeks, leading to some deaths. NDMA’s communication office could not provide ManoReporters figures for the number of fatalities despite repeated request for same.
“The reason behind the destruction of our house is that people who occupy the upper part of the hills are in the habit of blocking waterways by dumping trash in the gutters and by that the water will not have a way to pass through. And the water settles close to the wall of our house, sucks through it, and we later found out that part of it had broken,” said Mabinty.
The rains also affected mobility within the community, as roads were flooded.
Alusine Kargbo, a commercial bike rider, said the rain have worsened the condition of already bad roads in the area.
“The road through Approved School to Kuntorloh is nothing compared to any road in Freetown, and since the rain started, we have been involved in so many road accidents due to the slippery nature of the road,” he said, calling for help in addressing the situation.
Another resident of Kuntorloh, Alhaji Bangura, who is a community organizer, lamented the attitude of people who dump trash uncontrollably even when they try to ensure that the place is clean.
“The attitude of people in that community have become so unbearable to the extent that youth are becoming angry,” said Bangura, who is the assistant youth leader of the Tenneba Road Community.
The youth activist however assured that as youth, they would not give up even though they are not being paid for what they do as they do it for the love of their community.
He however called on the Freetown City Council, singling out the Mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, to continue providing them necessary equipment to carry out their responsibilities as community youth.
Meanwhile, NDMA in late July, launched the Open Space Campaign on Disaster Risk Management, which focuses on disaster prone areas with the objective of enhancing community resilience by raising awareness and providing critical information on disaster risk management.
M’Ballu Little Kamara is an intern at ManoReporters and she is a final year student at the Mass Communication Department at Central University in Mile 91.
