7-day rainfall to hit Nigeria AMID appeals for succour, floods continue to ravage different parts of the country.
From Benue to Anambra, Delta and Edo States, there are persistent calls for intervention in the floods that have destroyed lives, displaced residents and damaged property
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At least 1,000 persons have been sacked by flood due to the overflowing of Orashi River in Rivers State.
The affected persons are from Mbiama, Akinima, and the four Joinkrama communities in Ahoada-West Local Council area.
It was also learnt that some communities in Ndoni in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Council of the state were affected.
He said the August break signified the first break of the peak of the rainfall over the swamp forest area.Oyegoke said that the announcement by the Lagos State Ministry of Environment that rain would fall for 238 days was misleading.He explained that the 238 days was the duration of all the rainfall in the state.He said that the rainfall in the state this year would be normal and urged residents to keep their surroundings clean to prevent flooding.
A visit to Ahoada West Local Council revealed that several persons have fled their ancestral homes while some houses have been sub-merged by the flood.
It was also observed that farmers in the affected communities have begun early harvest of their crops.
One of the flood victims, Emma Ekpeye said, there had been perennial flood problem in the area, especially around November period.
He lamented that the neglect of the flood challenges in the communities resulted in the flood disaster.
Following the massive flooding of five council areas in Anambra State, Governor Peter Obi has directed the Secretary to the State Government, Oseloka Obaze, to immediately turn the vast Governor’s Lodge at Onitsha into a camp to house the displaced victims should there be shortage of camps as complained by some of the displaced persons.
Obi gave the directive yesterday while touring some of the public buildings sheltering the flood victims at Omunwa Egboka Primary School, Onitsha.
Obi noted: “Few weeks ago, governors of the South-East sent money to Haiti to help them rebuild after the earthquake of 2010. If we could do it to them, we must do more for our people that elected us to serve them.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment, Bukola Saraki has expressed regret over the displacement of the people by the flood and promised that the committee would make a formal request to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to come in.
In his reaction, the South-South Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Umesi Emenike said the agency had carried out assessment in the area, noting that several persons were affected.
He added that NEMA had begun arrangements with the state government to provide a camp at Ndoni for those who were seriously affected and had also provided relief materials.
After over seven days of distress as a result of the surge from River Niger, the Edo State government yesterday started the distribution of relief materials to victims in over 30 communities in Etsako Central, Etsako East and Esan South-East Local Councils of the state.
The state governor, Adams Oshiomhole had last week promised the release of N100 million to take care of the needs of the flood victims, after an on-the-spot assessment of the affected areas.
While distributing the materials yesterday, the Chairman of the Relief Committee working in conjunction with the State Emergency Relief Agency, Hajia Maimuna Momodu, said the relief materials were palliative measures to soothe the pains of the victims and take care of their immediate needs.
She assured that the materials would be evenly distributed to all the victims across the affected communities even as she appealed to the Federal Government to come to the immediate aid of the victims. The relief materials distributed to the victims included mattresses, blankets, clothing, various food items, toiletries, beverages and drugs which were administered to those who need them by doctors and nurses on ground.
The Deputy National President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and former President-General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Onikolease Irabor, commended the Senate for the robust debate on the flood disaster but urged them to look at all parts of the country that have been affected by the disaster and not focus only on Kogi State which seemed to be worst hit.
He told The Guardian in an interview that over 30 communities had been affected in Edo State. He said the Federal Government was slow in its action since the flood had earlier been predicted.
Going by the magnitude of the flood disaster in Delta State, the state branch of the party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), has called on the Federal Government to release money from the ecological fund to the state so as to enable the government render needed support to the victims, repair damaged infrastructure and build embankments at the edges of the River Niger, to check a reoccurrence of flooding in the state.
A statement by the Publicity Secretary, Frank Eghomien described the flood as a national disaster and advised that rather than procrastinate and make untenable promises on the radio and on the pages of newspapers as regards the ravaging flood in the coastal areas of Delta State, the government should match its rhetoric with urgent action.
The scribe called on the government to seriously address the plight of the affected communities.
Eghomien said that it was not enough for the government to set up relief camps but should urgently provide boats and canoes, where required, to evacuate the residents and their property, dispatch urgent relief materials and provide free medical services in the camps.
The Delta ACN scribe said that it was cause for concern that the three senators representing the state in the Upper House had not deemed it fit to attract lawmakers’ sympathy visit to Delta State on the tragedy, which the deputy governor rightly categorised as “a national disaster.”
He queried: “If a delegation of the Senate could pay a sympathy visit to Kogi State, which suffered similar disaster, only recently, why not Delta State?”
A Senator, Dr. Andy Uba, yesterday expressed shock over the devastating effects of flood in over 60 communities in Anambra State, just as he solicited aid from the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians.
Briefing journalists on the activities of the humanitarian society and what it intends to do in the next six months in Abuja yesterday, the head of disaster management and programme coordinator Umar Abdu Mairiga said the fund would be utilised to support the ongoing relief efforts of the national Red Cross society and continue to provide those affected by the floods with emergency shelter and other essential relief items with the target of 10,000 people.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) on Saturday said Lagos would soon experience a seven-day rainfall.Mr Abayomi Oyegoke of NIMET Central Forecast Unit, Oshodi, Lagos, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Oyegoke also said hat a total of 570 mm of rainfall had been recorded in Lagos State between January and June.
He explained that the rains being experienced in the state were the beginning of a seven-day rainfall.“In the last one week, it appears we are experiencing a prelude to the normal seven days rainfall and immediately after the seven days rain, what should be the next, is the little dry season.“The dry season indicates the onset of the ‘August break’ and it seems the break may come early this year towards the second or third week in July, this is also normal,”
Uba, who lamented the plight of the victims, said the loss was unquantifiable in terms of money and even regretted that several people had been forced out of their ancestral homes to live in refugee camps.
While touring the Ogbaru communities, Uba who is representing Anambra South Senatorial district, further promised to ensure that the National Assembly treated problems of the flood victims in Ogbaru, Anambra West and Anambra East councils by including them in the next year’s budget.
Already, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an emergency appeal to the tune of CHF 200,000 (N33.5 million) to assist the Nigerian Red Cross in providing relief materials to affected flood victims in states across the country, with the field assessment and coordinating team arriving in the country.