By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, June 21, GNA – Research scientists in meteorology, hydrology, climate change and flooding situations, are meeting in Kumasi to present and discuss new findings which could be used to curb flooding situations in urban communities.
The meeting, which is under theme, “Current and Future Risks of Urban and Rural Flooding in West Africa (FURIFLOOD)” Project, aims to generate scientific knowledge regarding climate drivers of current and future extreme events related to flooding in West Africa and integrate this with case studies to better understand risks and impacts.
The West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is executing the four-year project, which started in August 2021 and expected to end in July 2024.
In Ghana, the College of Science of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is the host.
Professor Dr Andreas Fink, of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, who is a Principal Investigator, detailing the progress made, said with the flood extent mapping for the urban catchment in Kumasi, researchers have developed a two-dimensional hydrodynamic modelling with a river analysis system to stimulate flood scenarios.
Large efforts had been undertaken to gain information on parameters such as flood depths recorded by inhabitants to calibrate and validate models.
These analyses, according to Prof. Dr. Fink, would help identify which magnitudes of hazard were prone to become a severe risk for the population around streams in Kumasi.
Again, there had been a successful replacement of outdated rain gauge instrumentation at 10 stations in the Ashanti Region.
To overcome major challenges in faulty original data loggers, the KNUST technicians have also designed a new logger.
The Professor of Meteorology said the project had drafted a guidebook on ecosystem-based flood risk-reduction measures in West Africa.
The book highlights detailed description and explanation of flood risk and its components, comprehensive analysis of how ecosystem-based disaster risk management could reduce flood, among others.
Prof. Dr. Fink indicated that these early warnings and emergency management strategies were needed to help provide basic information to stakeholders such as the meteorological agencies and National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).
Prof. Leonard Amekudzi, Provost, College of Science, KNUST, who is also the Principal Investigator for Ghana, observed that the flash flooding in Kumasi had to get a remedy.
The KNUST, he indicated, was tasked to investigate the extreme rainfall, attempt to reduce floods, and begin to think about developing a revised intensive duration curve for not only the Ashanti Region, but Ghana and the entire West Africa.
GNA