My Wet Night

It is rainy season here in Accra. And every-so-years the rain gives Accra a beating. We got one of those last Wednesday. It already rained the previous Sunday and Monday night quite a bit so things were saturated. And so it began...this is my story--My car’s back lights were not working so I took trotro to church. It takes two trotros (which are vans that pick up and drop people on routes for really cheap city transportation—always an adventure on one). When I got to church at 5:30 it started raining. I was going to meet with my kids but of course no one showed. Bible study is also on Wednesday nights and after we closed at 8:00pm it was still raining. I am not talking about a drizzle here people. I am talking DOWNPOUR. The church has a zinc roof so when the rain hits it is so loud you can’t even hear the person next to you. And so those of us who came for Bible study were stuck and we really couldn’t even talk to each other! But by 9:30 we saw an escape. The rain slowed for a bit so I and this man Theo made a run for the bus stop. The rain started up again. I could see it running heavily down the roads but didn’t consider there would be flooding. There were no trotros coming to take me to lapaz. Theo was flagging down taxis but either they were full or they didn’t want to go to where he asked. Finally, a trotro came but to be honest, I didn’t think these guys were normal trotro drivers. They seemed like this was a fun game or something. They broke their side window but didn't think anything of it and they took a different road, but anyways…we got to lapaz. Theo went in a different direction than me and so we said goodbyes and there I was. In lapaz, thankfully, with a few other people. Power was off in this area of town so it was dark and the water on the road (a dual carriage way) was up to my ankles. Now lapaz is usually a bustling place. You actually have to wait in line for a car or step over a woman selling her goods to get where you want because they even sell on the sidewalks. But at this time, there was nothin’. Lights are out. No sellers. No cars. No people. It was really weird. The rain was to a drizzle at that point so I was thankful for that.It was late and I was standing with a few people and if a lone taxi/trotro came by people would rush up to it, but it usually only had room for one and I knew I would never get a seat or I would have to wait forever (insert dramatic sigh and hand gesture). So I started walking. And walking. And walking. I would pass people randomly. We don’t advise people to be out so late so I was walking fast and it was still drizzling and lightning. On the other side of the highway traffic was backed up until I couldn’t see. The cars were not moving. Earlier in the week when it rained I was at that spot and the water was up to mid-tire on my car so with all this new rain I cannot imagine how high the water is and how many cars have stalled.I would stop at each coming bus stop, just in case there would be some sort of transportation…nothin’. So I kept walkin’.I was getting closer to my place. I noticed people. Many people. I live near a really big church so I thought maybe they had a program that closed late…as I got closer I saw why all those people were walking. People thought, like I did, that it would be faster to walk than sit in their cars or there was no way a car will come so they better just walk. I heard later that when taxis/trotros saw that area they told the people to get out they are not going any further. The rain at the traffic light was mid calf on me. The dual carriageway was backed up with honking cars. Cars were jammed. A motorbike would not have been able to pass it was so tight. Now, on a normal dual carriageway cars are going in opposite directions with 2 lanes on each side. Well, on this night, no one wanted to go on the one side because it was absolutely flooded. So, cars decided (funny how I blame it on the car and not the drivers) to cross over the median and make a new lane going against the 2 lanes coming at them. Don’t ask me. I don’t know how someone thought that would work and here if someone does something like this everyone follows. I just stopped and stared. It was already past 11pm and I could tell there was noooo way this would be taken care of quickly. There is a small gutter I cross over when I walk to my house and it was like a rushing rapids, probably 10-15 feet of water. That gutter water was on my road. I heard a man comment to his friend, “someone is going to die here” because the water was so high. I was walking in between cars, since they were not moving. I saw some obrunis in a van, I assumed they were Mormons because of their white shirts and black ties, and those boys did not look very happy! I should have asked them how long they were stuck there but I just compassionately smiled and kept walking because the water was running so fast and my pant legs that I rolled up were already soaked.I made it home around 11:30pm! I must have walked almost 5 miles. I don’t know how long people were sitting in traffic. I heard some crazy stories that it took people 4 hours to get home or getting home at 1am or they had to walk long distances because there was no transportation.It is not just because of the heavy rains that the flooding occurred. Many people build homes or put shops up in places near waterways or in the path of water. They are told to leave but either they ignore the warning or they pay a bribe to someone to allow them to stay. Also, people just throw their trash in the gutters. That clogs drainage and water cannot flow out so it ends up on roads and blocking water…which causes flooding. Everyone is always telling everyone not to dump their rubbish in the gutters but people do it anyways. People throw out trash from the vehicle windows. It really makes the city filthy. So, imagine all this flood water…what is in it…and how it ends up everywhere…even the ocean. (shaking my head…sigh)I have heard some sad stories that all people’s belongings have been destroyed because of flooding, cars were pulled by the rushing waters into gutters and flipped over, and fires started because water was going into outlets and also some people drowned. The next morning I went out and saw rubbish everywhere. Chunks of pavement have disappeared. People were cleaning their shops out and throwing things away. I kept hearing people using the word all. As in, all their stock was destroyed, all their things washed away. All their money was gone.Earlier that same evening there was a huge explosion which killed over 70 people because they came for shelter from the rain at a gas station. A night of tragedies. Very sad for Ghana. Please be praying for help for the people affected. Pray for Ghana’s government that they would work towards putting things in place that this would not happen again. This is 100 feet away from my house. You can see the chunk of pavement that disappeared. The white van is a trotro and the blue one is a taxi. The slant going down is the gutter which was almost overflowing. This is the dual carrageway I walked on trying to get a car and ended up just walking.