Rainfall is a primary component of the hydrological cycle which makes water available for the earth’s life supporting systems. Without rainfall and for that matter water, the earth’s life supporting systems will gradually grind to a halt. Water as a sustainer of life will continuously diminish until there will be no more of it if there are no rains.
In view of this, God in His infinite wisdom incorporated rainfall as part of the climatic variables. Even though the earth can experience rainfall at any time, the creator arranged things in such a way that there is a season for rainfall and when it does come it revives many living things especially vegetation and also nourishes forage for animal consumption. The onset of rainfall also marks the beginning of farming activities since moisture (water) is needed for seed germination and plant growth.
Considering the above submission, can Rainfall be necessarily evil? Never, but can pose serious threat to life if not managed well or in other words if man tries to interfere with the natural system that help make rains useful to man. This potential danger is more eminent in the tropics where comparatively rainfall is more in terms of quantity and time period. However, it is also in the tropics where the interference occurs most. Rainfall being more in the tropics is a blessing than a curse. The tropics boast of the best forests, rivers and arable lands which are partly attributed to rainfall. In recent times, climate change as agreed by scientists has succeeded in distorting the rainfall pattern.
The truth of the matter is that man has intentionally and carelessly made rainfall become an evil thing. In Ghana any substantial amount of rains can result in flooding in some parts of the country which lead to loss of lives and valuable properties. Flooding has inevitably become seasonal in the country and occurs in every raining season. In Ghana rainfall is increasingly becoming more harmful than useful due to obvious reasons. Ghanaians think they can refute the common adage which says “you cannot cheat nature “. If you live in a country where there are no buffers for rivers and water bodies, no proper drainage systems especially in the urban areas then expect nothing but floods whenever it rains irrespective of its intensity or time period. Water becomes very destructive and deleterious whenever its course (path) is diverted. A country where wetlands and river buffers are converted in to estates and buildings are found in water ways without taken any recourse to the environmental laws and intentional conventions.
One may sometimes ask, do our leaders and the ordinary citizens in the country know something about wetlands and their management? Does the country still have Town Planners, and professionals like Land Economists, Architects, and Environmental Officers etc and if there are, where do they practice their profession. Ordinary citizens are worst culprits in all sense and purpose. Almost everybody in the country now prefers concrete tiles to lawns when developing our compounds. How many homes and offices have lawns in the urban areas? Have we forgotten that lawns and for that grass help rainwater to sink into the soil to recharge the ground water which thousands of households rely on for their livelihood activities. Concrete tiles as used in our compounds have subtle way of contributing to flooding. Concrete tiles do not allow water to sink into the soil and also due enable quick formation of run offs which eventually flood our homes due to unavailability of drainage system.
Finally, gutters and drains are now refuse site for urban dwellers. Can this be also contributed to poor governance or leadership failures? Who tells us to dump refuse in gutters? Even people of the Stone Age would not be involved in this act. This act is illicit and prepares favorable grounds for diseases outbreak such as cholera. As a country, will we continue to use fire-fighting approach in solving the seasonal problems of floods or will we continue to quickly go to bereaved families to console them and come up with hollow and unfulfilling promises.
Countries in the desert areas invest heavily in irrigation systems just to make water available for farming. Ghana is blessed with lot of natural resources which are vital for development. However, our actions and inactions have robbed the country from taken advantage of these resources.