The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has announced that the country should expect normal rains in areas that are accompanied by strong winds, this year.
The Director General of the GMet, Dr. Michael Tanu urged Ghanaians to be cautious and also put in necessary measures to avoid flooding and other disasters.
He made this known at a briefing on the 2021 Season Forecast for the country, yesterday.
“We are going to have normal onset and by the first week of March (from coast to middle belt) most areas will experience rainfall.
“We also expect some parts in the north to have early onset because the rains start normally around May; but we expect that around April we should have the rains,” He said.
Dr. Tanu said Accra would receive about 700 millimetres of rainfall per year for a normal rain fall season, also area in Axim would have 2,000 millimetres.
He said if those figures were exceeded then it meant that the areas were experiencing rainfall that was above average.
“The normal rains will be accompanied by normal storms with strong winds, thunder and lightning. It could be normal but heavy, however, normal is what we are talking about here,” he said.
The Deputy Director and Head of Research and Applied Meteorology at GMet, Mrs. Francisca Martey, said flash floods were likely to occur in places such as Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and other regional administrative centres during the period from April to June.
She said the phenomenon might lead to some roads becoming impassable and cautioned road users to be careful when riding on those roads at those times and also desist from driving through flood waters.
“Light aircrafts are advised to take utmost care and avoid flying through deep convective clouds associated with severe turbulence and lightening, especially in the afternoon hours,” she said.
The director general of GMet said the agency would continue to give weather warnings and urged the public to take caution in order to avert being caught in disasters.
STORY BY: PRISCILLA ADOMAA NTIM