No fewer than 10,611 households in Ndokwa East LGA, were displaced by the ravaging floods, Ndokwa East LGA Chairman, Juan Governor , has said.
Governor said farmlands, roads and other critical infrastructure, including the local council secretariat in Aboh were submerged.
He appealed for speedy rehabilitation works of Ashaka-Kwale, Ashaka-Arhade, Ashaka-Aboh, Ase, Asaba Ase, Aboh-Akarai roads and the roads in the seven Ibrede Clans, Iselegu-Inyi/Onuabor road, Oko through the several Utchi clans down to Okpai roads, Obiikwele road, Igbuku-Ibrede road in the local government area.
He said donations valued at N1,500,000.00 were received and have been earmarked for post flood management.
He said with the flood water receding, the focus of the council was on relief efforts.
Governor expressed concern over damages to property due to hasty clean up procedures during the post flood phase, saying “many structures and properties may be needlessly lost and damaged through hasty clean-up procedures.
He said: “On the basis of this, the council is commencing wide awareness and sensitisation programme to let our people know that the best way to help our communities, property, or structure prevent additional damage and maintain its integrity and character during these times of duress is with the use of proper caution and concern.
“While the water is receding, we encourage our people to plan the future steps to rehabilitation and restoration carefully. Each decision made today affects future decisions which will need to be made tomorrow.”
The council boss solicited assistance for expertise in areas where it lacked capacity.
He called for the fumigation of the communities before internally displaced residents could be resettled and for farming inputs including, “farm starter items e.g. cassava stems, stalks, yam seedlings, grains, fishing nets and accessories, farm tools, fertilizers, etc., to be provided for the victims.
He said: “These post flood needs will be of great priority in the next two weeks at which period we anticipate that most of the flooded communities may be fully accessible.”
Meanwhile, the Special Assistant to Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri on Persons Living with Disabilities (PWLDs) Comrade Tonyon Igbei has made cash donations to the disabled community in the state.
He said the gesture was to provide succour to them as a set of the most vulnerable group affected by the floods.
Igbei made the donation yesterday when he visited their IDP camp at the old Women Affairs premises in Yenagoa, the state capital.
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The Governor’s aide said the physically challenged persons were the most affected set of people by the floods hence he decided to reach out to them as his primary constituency with financial assistance to reduce the impact on them.
Responding, the Bayelsa State Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, Mr. Eric Ikilowei, and the Southern Ijaw branch Chairman of the association, Mr. Peter Ebidouwei, thanked Igbei for the humanitarian gesture extended to them.
Ikilowei, however, decried what he described as a total neglect of the disabled community in Bayelsa who are the most impacted victims in the disaster.
Ikilowei noted that persons with disabilities suffer double of what normal people go through as a result of the floods.
He added that those on wheelchairs, crutches and the visually impaired are worst hit due to their conditions.
They called on the Bayelsa State Flood Mitigation and Management Committee, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and public spirited individuals to come to their aid.
He said they were in desperate need of relief items such as food, cash donations, mosquito treated nets and drugs to survive the floods in the state.