This is because  floods, heavy objects being blown about by strong winds, lightening, slippery roads and poor visibility while driving among others, were risks that typically accompany rainfall.

Mr. Michael Padi, senior meteorologist, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, following last Sunday's down-pour which caused heavy flooding and a number of deaths in Accra, said one key thing that would help ensure safety from flooding was for everyone to be well aware of their terrain.

"We need to be aware of our immediate terrain. If water has covered an entire street and makes it impossible to determine the street from the side drain or gutter, it is easy to fall or drive right into a drain and get swept away by flood waters," he said.

Mr. Padi said the best thing to do when there was heavy rain, was to as much as possible avoid any movement.

The senior meteorologist said some places were naturally flood prone because they were low lying places."The terrain could be a strong factor. Low lying lands would typically flood even when it has not rained much, whilst high lands would experience no such thing when there is heavy rain," he said.

Mr Padi said people who experienced flooding because of their terrain should therefore move to higher ground when there were heavy rains, in order to avoid the ill effects of flooding.   

He said one key thing to be wary of during the rainy season was where people took shelter or even parked their cars.

Mr. Padi said taking shelter or parking in the wrong places could be risky and added, that a number of cars for example, were submerged in last Sunday's rains, because they had been parked in places that were prone to flooding.

The senior meteorologist said some grounds that were formerly covered by soil were now paved with cement, which prevented rain water from sinking and in effect, increased surface running water during rains.

He said certain gutters and drains thus needed to be reconstructed into larger ones, in order to reduce flooding in some areas.

Mr. Padi cautioned that pointed elevated structures should be avoided when taking shelter during rains, because lightening was attracted to such structures, be they natural like palm trees or man-made.

He said the rains would be accompanied by strong winds, which made it dangerous to seek shelter under trees adding, "one could get seriously injured or even killed by a falling branch or tree that has been knocked off by the rain."

In the words of Mr. Nelson Agbovi of the NADMO emergency centre  in Accra, "there is no way of telling what dangers lurk ahead of you when there is a heavy down pour. As a pedestrian or driver, just wait until the flood waters have receded when there is a down-pour."

He said it was unfortunate that some people already rented or bought houses within low lying lands and added, that there was the need to construct large drains within certain areas to contain flood waters during rains.

Mr. Agbovi said in the meantime, people in low lying flood-prone areas could only save their lives by moving to higher grounds when it rained.

"Southern Ghana is currently experiencing its first and major rainy season for the year. We should thus expect an average of three down-pours every week for now," said senior meteorologist Mr. Padi.

A heavy down-pour last Sunday resulted in five deaths and two people missing.

Several cars were reported submerged by the rains, with a number of areas getting flooded.