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Building resilience: Smart planning prevents floods in Ghana

05:35

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Maxwell Suuk | Wolf Gebhardt
October 22, 2025

From damaged roads to vulnerable dams, Ghana's rural towns are rethinking infrastructure to reduce disaster risk and build climate resilience.

Extreme weatherevents are becoming more frequent across Africa. The climate is changing, mainly due to the widespread burning of fossil fuels in our vehicles and factories. Communities in northeast Ghana have experienced repeated floods. But experts from Ghana’s disaster management agency say that while climate change has increased rainfall, floods could still be prevented with better road construction and adequate drainage. Communities are now demanding that local contractors return to do a better job on their roads. Meanwhile, volunteers are being trained in flood rescue, and urgent repairs are needed on a dangerously eroded dam. With lives and livelihoods at stake, Ghana is learning that disaster resilience requires more than climate awareness—it demands better planning and engineering.

Maxwell Suuk Maxwell is a DW reporter based in Tamale, Northern Ghana.
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