Flood takes over 25 Edo communities
Published By: Paul Dada
By Jethro Ibileke
About 25 communities located along the River Niger bank in three local government areas of Edo state have been submerged in flood, following the release of water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.
The affected local government areas are Etsako East, Etsako Central and Esan South-East.
The incident is confirmed by the Desk Officer of Esan South East local government area on Relief Materials and Distribution, Ojimah Christopher.
He disclosed that there are are some communities, especially Ifeku, that have been completely submerged and their properties and livestocks swept away.
Ojimah who is also the Secretary to the Local Government’s Emergency Committee, said internally displaced person’s camp set up have already been filled to capacity.
A resident of the affected area, John Odaku, said their farm produce such as yam, cassava, groundnut and others, have been submerged by flood those already harvested swept away.
He said they could not take their belongings due to the rising level of the flood water, which he said was more than that of last year.
“We couldn’t savage our crops and farm produce and live stocks as they were swept away by the ravaging flood,” he lamented.
Odaku who called on the State and Federal Government to come to their aids, noted that the local government council has been shouldering their responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has charged the people to relocate to IDP camps to avoid casualties.
Speaking on the development, the NEMA Head, Benin Operation office, Dahiru Yusuf, said the agency has been monitoring the flood situation in collaboration with state and local government coumcils and other stakeholders.
“Three local governments areas of Esan South-East, Etsako East and Etsako Central and some communities are displaced already,” he said.
Yusuf disclosed that they have visited all the flood-prone local government areas to assess their level of preparedness, adding that most of the IDP camps in the various local government areas are ready.
