Tuesday’s heavy downpour in some part of the country was due to the hefty energy concentration in the atmosphere, Mr Joseph T. Portuphy, Officer in-charge of Forecasting at the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA), has attributed. Mr Portuphy explained that the rain was characterised with turbulent wind because “we have a lot of energy in the system due to a lot of sunshine that has accumulated and that will always force the wind to be very strong”.
In an interview with Ghana News Agency, he said “we are still in the Hamattan season” and that the rainy season normally commence in the month of March, April or May. Mr Portuphy said the end of January in every decade within a period of 30 years has been characterised with such rains.
He noted that the GMA was yet to issue its seasonal forecast of when exactly to expect the upcoming rainy season. He admonished farmers along the lowland areas that they could commence preparation of lands for the rainy season since floods characterize such areas during heavy downpour.
“We have to work on our choked gutters,” he advised, adding that gutters should to be desilted to pave way for the rain to freely flow during the wet season. The GMA yesterday at 1500hours issued a weather warning to the public that a rainstorm observed over the seas of Togo was to produce thunderstorm and rain mostly over the eastern coastal areas of the country, which confirmed the heavy downpour yesterday.
The thunderstorm and rain, according to the weather warning, was expected to affect Agbozome, Keta and Ada at 1500-1800hours and Accra, Tema and Madina at 1800-2000hours as well as Cape Coast, Saltpong and Winneba at 1900-2100hours. In other development, the heavy downpour on Tuesday caused the collapse of huge billboards along some major roads in Accra as well the felling of some trees. The part of the roof of Parliament House was ripped off in addition to other major devastations in the capital city.