LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Six persons have lost their lives while trying to cross through the flood to the road at Ihuike community in Ahaoda axis of the East-West road, Rivers state.
An eyewitness said a woman and her son were swept off by the flood. While the baby was later found dead, the mother has since remained missing.
It was also gathered that eight persons in a boat were also swept off by a flood, leaving four dead while others survived.
Aside from loss of lives, houses, farmlands, and roads have also been submerged by flood in over 200 communities in Rivers State.
The communities are in four local government areas of the state namely; Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni (ONELGA), Ahoada West, Ahoada East and Abual Odual.
The affected communities include Usomini, Omoku, Obrikom, parts of Egi, and Egbema Ndoni in ONELGA.
According to reports, Mbiama, Akinima, Akioniso and Oruama in Ahoada West have been submerged, rendering thousands homeless, and without food.
The Orashi region of the state comprising the three councils experienced the worst flooding in 2012 where several lives were lost. Also, in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020, flooding wreaked havoc in Rivers State but no concrete action was taken by the government to address it.
While many homes were still battling to recover from the damages from the past years, the state has again been hit by flooding. For instance, In ONELGA, over 20 communities have been submerged with bridges, roads, farms and schools covered by water.
Several farmlands have been washed off and many artisans rendered jobless when their shops were submerged. The development has also become a threat to food security.
One of the flood victims, Mrs. Justina Wilfred said: “We have lost everything we have, no shelter, no food, nothing. It is really disheartening.”
Some of the flood victims have appealed to Governor Nyesom Wike to ensure that the N1 billion he approved for emergency relief measures to support flood victims in the local councils be monitored to ensure it gets to victims.
Some of them told The Guardian that in the past when such aids and relief items were provided, they hardly received them.
Governor Wike who had, during the week, approved N1 billion for flood victims, also set up a Taskforce to coordinate the distribution of relief materials to affected communities in the state, stressing that the money was to enable vulnerable families, particularly in Ahoada West, Ahoada East and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGAs, which are the most devasted areas in the state.
However, the former Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, Leyii Kwanee, said it is disheartening that the Wike-led government was unable to follow sincerely and consistently pre-flooding notices and warnings from relevant agencies of the Federal Government and allowed the current avoidable calamity to befell Rivers people.
Kwanee, who is the governorship candidate of Zenith Labour Party, said, “Rather than throw money at the problem after it has overwhelmed the people, it is naturally expected that a rational and people-oriented government will adopt measures that are capable of mitigating the anticipated loss of lives, property and legitimate means of livelihood of her citizens following the warning by the relevant agencies.
“Unfortunately, this has never been the case with a PDP administration that prioritises self-centred political activities and programmes that would enhance its chances at elections and sustain her ability to hold the state captive over and above paying attention to the immediate needs and suffering of her citizens.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of ONELGA, Vincent Job, has commiserated with the victims and lamented the devastating impacts of the flood crisis.
He appealed to relevant authorities and organisations to come to the aid of the flood victims, saying most of them have lost their farmlands and households.
The Director General, Delta Orientation Bureau, Mr. Eugene Uzum, on Saturday, said the ravaging flood had forced crocodiles, snakes and other dangerous animals out of the River Niger to chase after victims in Patani communities.
Speaking in Asaba, Uzum said a big python was killed while attempting to swallow a victim in Patani.
He also said that about 298 persons were affected in Ewulu, including 394 men, 572 women, 574 children, 12 pregnant and 19 lactating mothers in Ogbe-Afor communities, while in Isoko, 216 men, 277 women and 298 children were affected.
He added that the East West Road was blocked, as trucks taking Federal Government’s relief materials to Patani axis were trapped, hence: “We are now using speed boat.”
A group known as Watchdog for Progressive Ijaw (WPI) has criticised the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ministry of Niger Delta for lack of preparedness to handle the ongoing flood disaster.
The group frowned at the nonchalant attitude, insensitivity and what it described as an obvious lack of capacity being displayed by the Interim Administrator of NDDC, Dr Efiong Akwa, at a time people of the region were urgently in need of the commission’s intervention.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Charles Taylor, the group lamented that despite all the warnings ahead of the flood, Akwa’s NDDC failed to prepare for it.
Taylor, a former factional President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, said it was time President Muhammadu Buhari removed Akwa and inaugurated a substantive board for NDDC to stop the further embarrassment of the commission by its current clueless administration.
