Accra Flooding Kills at Least 13, Building Collapse Adds to Toll as Second Storm Approaches

What Happened

Sunday night's downpour hit Accra with approximately 140mm of rain in a single event, according to President John Dramani Mahama, who noted on X that the highest single-day rainfall recorded in all of last year was about 56mm. The scale of the difference explains why this flood overwhelmed a city of more than four million people.

The Ghana National Fire Service confirmed at least 13 deaths as of Monday into Tuesday, according to BBC News. Deaths were recorded across Tema Newtown, Alajo, Achimota, Agbogbloshie, Odorna, and Abofu, with causes ranging from drowning to electrocution to structural collapse, according to abcnewsgh.

FireService spokesperson Alex King Nartey was direct about where things stand: "It looks like there is more and you would be surprised that the death toll could rise because there are a lot of people who are reported missing."

A Second Crisis Inside the Disaster

On Monday evening, a building collapsed in the Tabora area of Accra, triggering a separate search-and-rescue operation while the broader flood response was still underway. Nartey confirmed to broadcaster TV3 that fire service personnel were on scene trying to extract people from the rubble, according to abcnewsgh.

The collapse layered a structural emergency on top of a flood emergency, stretching personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Police Service, and the National Disaster Management Organisation simultaneously.

Scope of the Damage

Among the hardest-hit areas: Alajo, Circle, Kaneshie, the Odaw corridor, Adabraka, Achimota, Weija, Madina, Adenta, Lapaz, and sections of Spintex Road, according to myjoyonline. Floodwaters submerged dozens of commercial vehicles at the Circle transport terminal, forcing drivers to climb onto the roofs of their buses.

A fire broke out at a rubber factory in the city, adding an industrial hazard to an already overwhelmed emergency response, according to BBC News.

The Ghana Grid Company Limited and the Electricity Company of Ghana shut down power to flood-affected parts of the capital as a precautionary measure, according to BBC News.

The Government Response

Mahama toured flood-hit communities by air and ordered an immediate nationwide sweep of drainage systems. He directed every Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly to work with the Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources to identify blockages in waterways.

"We'll not only break the houses. We have to move the rubble out of the way because there's no use breaking a house and leaving the rubble in the waterways," Mahama said, according to abcnewsgh.

The president's office issued direct public-safety guidance: stay indoors if your location is safe, do not cross flooded roads on foot or by vehicle, move to higher ground if your home is flooding, and call 112 for emergency assistance.

Drainage and Accountability

Critics of Accra's urban planning have pointed for years to inadequate drainage infrastructure failing to keep pace with rapid population growth. Accra is one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa, and low-lying neighborhoods built without adequate drainage have flooded repeatedly across multiple administrations. Whether any government action on drainage would have materially reduced this weekend's casualties given a rainfall event nearly three times the previous single-day record remains unclear. The pattern of repeated flooding in the same neighborhoods raises accountability questions about whether post-flood pledges to clear waterways have historically been followed through.

Mahama attributed the rainfall scale to climate change. That framing is consistent with regional meteorological trends, though it does not by itself resolve the infrastructure question.

Another Storm Coming

The Ghana Meteorological Agency warned as of Tuesday that more rain was expected to affect parts of southern Ghana, including the Accra area, on Tuesday morning into the afternoon, according to BBC News. The agency advised residents to avoid sheltering under trees, stay clear of loose electrical wires, and not walk or drive through floodwaters.

Abcnewsgh also reported Mahama is developing a longer-term urban restructuring plan that includes creating a new growth center outside of Accra to ease pressure on the capital's strained infrastructure.

Whether the drainage clearance operation Mahama ordered Monday can be completed before the next rainfall is a key question facing emergency managers in Accra.