– 140 People Dead, 10,000 Displaced
AFTER displacing over 10,000 people across the states of Kaduna, Kogi, Benue, Edo and as of Thursday, Kwara States in the last few days, the flood ravaging these states, especially in the central part of the country, have been declared the worst in decades.
In images that appeared like scenes out of the Katrina episode in the US state of Louisiana in 2005, residents could be seen stranded on their rooftops as water drowned out their homes, even as emergency services battled to rescue them.
About a 140 people have been reported dead since the flooding began.
The flooding has been the worst for more than 50 years, according to Yushua Shuaib, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
“Over 10,000 people are displaced completely from their houses in my area and the numbers are increasing,” NEMA’s coordinator for central Nigeria, Ishaya Chonoko, said by phone. “In some parts, like Ibaji, the entire local government area is submerged by water. People are living on top of their roofs.”
Emergency services were trying to access displacement camps — in some cases by boat — to hand out emergency items, he said. Worst affected was Kogi state.
Nigeria, which gets heavy tropical rains from May to September, suffers from seasonal flash floods. These are sometimes lethal, especially in rural areas or overcrowded slums.
And respite from the force of nature may not come soon, given the pronouncements made on Thursday Kogi State Governor Wada Idris, who asked the people of the state to prepare for more floods as the situation might not abate till the end of November.
The governor said more water would be released from some dams and that as the water increased everyday and rapidly, increase in flood should be expected till the end of November.
Wada spoke at the 2012 World Tourism Day celebration in Lokoja and stressed that the flooding was a natural disaster that could not be curtailed.
He urged the residents of Lokoja living close to the water front to leave their buildings before the water got to them unannounced.
He also appealed to all residents of Lokoja and the flood victims to accommodate one another during the period.
He advised those who did not have means to get new accommodation or had no families that could accommodate them to go and settle at the relief camps provided for flood victims.
He said relief materials were sent to the camps daily to relieve the victims of their hardship.