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Tag: flood

  • Flood warning

    Flood warning

    • People have to take alerts more seriously

    In the middle of the rainy season expected to span April to November, the prediction of possible flooding in 19 states in the country this month by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is quite disturbing. The notice calls for vigilance and proactive action, not only from the relevant governmental structures at all levels but also the people in the identified 56 communities that may be affected.   

    The federal agency’s Lagos territorial coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, in a statement, listed the states and communities as: Delta (Aboh), Ekiti (Ado-Ekiti), Ondo (Akure, Idanre, Ifon, Iju Itaogbolu, Ogbese, Owo, Owena, Ondo).

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    Others are: Lagos State (Apapa, Badagry, Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Ikoyi, Lagos Island, Ojo, Surulere); Anambra (Atani); Ogun (Ifo, Ota, Sagamu); Nasarawa (Lafia, Wamba); and Cross River (Ikom, Ogoja).

    Also included are: Bauchi State (Jamaare, Misau, Azare, Itas, Kafin Madaki, Kari, Kirfi, Tafawa Balewa, Katagum); Jigawa (Hadejia, Miga); Osun (Ilesa, Osogbo); and Kwara (Kosubosu).

    The rest are: Zamfara State (Anka, Bungudu, Gusau); Sokoto (Goronyo); Adamawa (Numan, Shelleng); Taraba (Serti); Benue (Ito, Katsina-Alan, Vande-Ikya); Imo (Oguta, Orlu); and Abia (Ugba). 

    Early in the year, the then Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said the forecasts for 2023 showed that 178 local government areas (LGAs) in 32 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were in the high flood risk areas. The information was a warning. 

    After last year’s devastating floods, the federal, state, and local governments should have worked towards improving flood control in the country before the next rains. It remains to be seen whether the situation will be positively different this year. Flood management is crucial because the rains come and go.  

    Last year’s disastrous floods remain fresh in the minds of many Nigerians. Lack of preparation was an issue as floods described as the worst since 2012 devastated many parts of the country. Reports said the floods affected 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states. Official figures indicated that the floods displaced more than two million people, killed more than 600 and injured more than 3,000.

    In addition, flooding destroyed vast agricultural land, disrupted fuel supplies, and caused food price increases. Also, it caused contamination of water sources that led to a cholera outbreak in the northeast of the country, which took more than 60 lives.

    The Federal Government had blamed the disaster on unusually heavy rains and climate change, suggesting that the main contributory factors were beyond human control.  But that didn’t tell the whole story.

     Identified problems that exacerbated the flooding last year included arbitrary construction on natural flood plains and storm water paths, and poor drainage systems, which were compounded by weak enforcement of environmental regulations. The Federal Government’s non-completion of the Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State had aggravated flooding in Kogi, Benue and other states in the northeast last year.

    Also, the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, last year, stressed the need for every state to set up a State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and local emergency committees, and fund them adequately. In 2016, NEMA had said there were no emergency management agencies in 11 states. It is unclear if the situation has changed positively.  

    Warnings are useful. But beyond warnings, the authorities and the people should deal with the flood factors that are not beyond human control. 

    It is noteworthy that 22,658 households in Kano State affected by the 2022 flood disaster recently received relief items distributed by NEMA. It is better late than never. 

    The agency’s boss attributed the development to the Special National Economic Livelihood Emergency Intervention for households affected by the 2022 flood and the vulnerable in the state. The beneficiaries received foodstuffs, household items and agricultural inputs. “A total of 660,884 households were verified and targeted to benefit from this Federal Government intervention across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja,” the NEMA boss said.

    Ultimately, all levels of government in the country and the various communities within the national boundaries have a responsibility to take action to prevent flooding, or greatly mitigate its consequences.

  • FCT director, five others feared dead in Abuja, Yola floods

    The Director of Finance, Federal Capital Territory High Court, Mr. Tony Okecheme, is feared dead after flood swept him away in the aftermath of a downpour in Abuja on Friday.

    A similar flood claimed five lives in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    Okecheme and his driver were heading for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in his official  car when they ran into the raging flood  and mud at Galadimawa Roundabout, Abuja.

    While the driver managed to escape, his boss was unlucky.

    After about one hour fighting for his life, Okecheme could no longer cope with the power of the massive water.

    Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who raced to the scene could not save him.

    The victims of the Yola flood are believed to be children living  in communities around old Yola town.

    The Executive Secretary of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), Dr Muhammed Suleiman, said he was yet to conclude the assessment of the damage by the flood when The Nation called him yesterday afternoon.

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    But he said between four and five children might have drowned or swept away in Jambutu and Wurojabe in Yola North Local Government Area and in Yolde Pate in Yola South Local Government Area.

    “I wish you can just wait till my team returns from the assessment tour they have embarked on, because I can’t be specific now,” he said, and promised to speak later in the day after he would have been properly briefed.

    The Yola North Transition Committee Chairman, Adamu Wakili, who addressed journalists in his office after an assessment visit to affected communities in the LGA, described the rain and the flood as unprecedented.

    He said: “We have never experienced this one to two hours of intensive rain and heavy flooding before. Many were rendered homeless. We have just seen a tailor shop where three sewing machines were swept away.”

    He put the number of the dead at three which occurred, according to him, at Jambutu and Wurojabe.

    Many families and business owners were displaced following the rain which caused gutters to overflow into homes and business places mostly in Jimeta area of the Adamawa State capital.

    The rain had poured heavily on Thursday evening, flooding households in much of Jimeta and Yola town with most streets in Jambutu, Bachure, Wurojabe, Kofare and some other communities becoming rivers of rain swept water and causing massive traffic holdup.

  • Flood: Businesses count losses in Lagos

    Businesses in Lagos lost billions of naira to the downpour that seized the early hours of Monday.

    While shops were shut while movement around the city  was crippled.

    At the International Trade Fair along the Lagos/ Badagry expressway a dealer in batteries and other car accessories, Chief Uche Obidiegwu said he instructed his staff to shut down the office and find a way of getting to their homes when at 12 pm it was still raining with thunder storms. He said he feared for their lives and didn’t want to be called upon to account for anybody.

    He estimated losing about  N500,000 milliom to the closure of his shop as customers from other West African countries and other states found it difficult to access their shops.

    An electronics dealer in Alaba International Market, Mr Ifejika Ikedi said  he didn’t bother coming out when he saw the intensity of the rain.

    He lamented the poor condition of road around Festac Town .

     

  • Floods kill 32 in South Africa

    Mudslides and flooding caused by torrential rain have killed 32 people in Durban and the wider KwaZulu-Natal province, officials say, with the death toll expected to rise.

    Among those killed was a six-month-old baby.

    Dozens of people have been taken to hospital and search and rescue teams are looking for more survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

    Local roads have flooded, sewers have been blocked and electricity pylons brought down.

    The BBC’s Nomsa Maseko in Johannesburg says two universities and a number of schools are shut after the storms hit on Monday evening.

    A severe weather warning remains in place in most parts of South Africa. Meanwhile, more localised flooding is expected in coastal areas.

    Last week, heavy rains were blamed for the collapse of a church wall in KwaZulu-Natal, which killed at least 13 people.

  • Clearing of drains, road repair begin to avert flood

    THE Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has begun the clearing of drains in some parts of Lagos to avert flood during the rain, Federal Controller of Works Adedamola Kuti said yesterday.

    He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the desilting of drains had started at Ijora, adding that evacuation of drainage channels on highways across Lagos would begin soon.

    “We are doing clearing of drains on the highways before the beginning of the rains. Watch out for us.

    “Of course, for us to enjoy the rainy season, we need to ensure that some of these areas, as we have identified, are opened up for proper drainage,” Kuti said.

    Speaking on the Alaka bridge project, where  workmen were seen on the bridge descending Ijora carriageway, he said some of its expansion joints were being replaced.

    “We are carrying out maintenance work on the Alaka bridge because it requires replacement of some expansion joints that are bad, about eight of them.

    “We have already completed the entire milling and resurfacing of that stretch of the Alaka bridge, even towards the Ijora end. Some of those silted drains have been cleared.

    “Other works include the replacement of those hand rails, those guard rails will be replaced, some manhole covers will be provided to replace those vandalised,” he said.

    Kuti listed the inner routes where rehabilitation works had been completed in Yaba to include Adekunle, Herbert Macaulay, Sabo, Alagomeji and WAEC Junction roads.

    “We have done some work around Iganmu, we have intervened somewhere around Barracks in Surulere as well as Ojuelegba.

    “The interventions are continuous, we are picking them one after the other,” he said.

    He said the ministry was collaborating with the Lagos State Government to work on some potholes on some sections of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    The collaboration, Kuti said, would be around Abule Egba to Ota sections of the highway where the state government has an ongoing project.

    The contract for the rehabilitation of the highway, he said, had been awarded to Julius Berger.

    “I will give instructions to that effect since the contractor is on site. The contractor is supposed to make the road motorable at all times,” he said.

    On the ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Kuti said work was ongoing on the first kilometre.

    “Surveys are ongoing and the contractor has his equipment on ground and trying to get them in proper shape. He has already started scarification and filling of some of the embarkment and work has started.

    “We are working on the first kilometre stretch, from Agbara,” he said.

    On the Third Mainland bridge, Kuti said:  “We completed the investigative test last year.

    “The results are out and we have an idea of the number of critical expansion joints that we are replacing. Just last week, we did a confirmatory test on some of the piles.

    “We actually sent some divers into the water to confirm the state of some of those piles, so work is ongoing because the contract itself includes the maintenance work on some of those piles that are having problem.

    “No cause for alarm, serious work will soon start, materials are getting in soon, but meanwhile, surfacing works on the Third Mainland bridge is ongoing.

    “We have already completed the Island bound carriageway, we are working on the Mainland bound,” he said.

  • Edo distributes relief materials to flood victims in 5 LGAs

    Edo State Government has distributed relief materials, comprising food items and building materials to victims of flood disaster in five local government areas across the state.

    Addressing journalists after presenting the materials to representatives of the affected local government areas, Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties, Hon. Yakubu Gowon, said the exercise is the second for donating materials to victims of the 2018 flood disaster.

    Gowon said the five local government areas that received the materials are Ikpoba-Okha, Oredo, Ovia North-East, Uhunmwode, and Etsako East.

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    He added: “Sometime last year, rainstorm affected about five local councils. We gave some relief materials to them last year and today, we have perishable and non-perishable materials to give to the communities. The items include bags of rice, garri, beans, gallons of red and vegetable oil, bundles of roofing sheets, nails, and noodles.”

    Relief materials being distributed by Edo State Government, to victims of flooding in five local government areas, in Benin City, Edo State capital.

    The governor’s aide said the state government is putting flood control measures in place in the affected areas to prevent future reoccurrence.

    Protocol Officer to Uhunmwode Council Chairman, Mr. Lucky Idehen, expressed appreciation to the state government for the donations, assuring that the distribution committee set-up last year would ensure the materials get to the affected victims.

    Idehen, said, “We thank Governor Godwin Obaseki for ameliorating the plight of the people of the council, who were affected by the rainstorm. The governor has brought succor to us and we are grateful to him.”

  • FG urged to set up special task force on flood disaster 

    The Federal Government has being urged to set up a special task force on Flood disaster to take care of the needs of flood victims in the future.

    United Nations Peace Advocate and General Overseer, God’s Ministry Int. Inc., Evangelist Dr S.Y. Mamamu made this call on Sunday during the church’s 42nd celebration of the “Christian Feast of In-Gathering of the Children of God” held at Salvation City, New Ogbe-Ijoh, Warri, Delta State.
    Mamamu lamented that the recent flood which devastated some communities close to the riverine areas in Delta State and other states has caused a lot of hunger and starvation as people in the affected areas lost all they had in the flood.
    He said he was compelled to appeal to the Federal Government to set up the special task force on flood disaster so as to put an end to the sufferings of flood victims across the country.
    He said, “The devilish flood that came this year has affected the resources of the whole economy, ranging from agriculture (farmlands, economic trees, rural/urban food production), mineral oil, air, water among others.
    “This situation has greatly affected the living conditions of many Nigerians in all the affected states.”
    Mamamu, who is also an Ijaw leader, appealed to Nigerian politicians not to heat up the polity but rather, play politics of love for one another.
    He warned that the recent politics of bitterness being exhibited by politicians in the country will not allow for progress to thrive, appealing to Nigerians to love one another.
    Also, the member representing the Ijaw ethnic nationality, Chief Frank Zuokumor who spoke to journalists at the occasion, commended Evangelist Mamamu for organizing the Christian feast, saying it was spiritually uplifting.
    Zuokumor used the occasion to appeal to Deltans to vote enmass for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in the 2019 general elections.
    “I want to employ the people of Delta State to continously support the present government of Delta State being led by our smart and amiable governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and our own leader, Deacon Kingsley Otuaro.
    “2019 is general election year,  and it is espected that the Ijaws in particular and Deltans in general, will give them the maximum support by giving them block vote during the election because this is the only we could show our support and  appreciation for all they have done so far in terms of human, capital and infrastructural development witnessed throughout their tenure.

  • Female banker, man drowned in Anambra flood

    Two persons got drowned in a flash flood in Oduke Obosi layout, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state on Sunday.

    The deceased, a female banker and a middle aged, yet to be identified man, got drowned following heavy down pour which also submerged over 20 buildings in the area.

    The female deceased, Mrs Oluchi Okafor, a widow with six children from Ebonyi state, was said to be returning from market when she died.

    Reacting, Chairman of the Oduke Layout landlords Association, Chief Nicholas Okechukwu, attributed the cause of the death to the state government inability to fix the Igwe Nwakobi road.

    He said, “We have been suffering from this flood menace for years, it is not a new thing, you can see that over 20 homes were submerged.

    “The contractor handling this road said government has not paid him to continue work on the road.”

    Confirming the incident, the State Police spokesperson, Haruna Mohammed, said the corpses of the deceased were deposited at St. Edward morgue for autopsy after being certified dead by a medical doctor.

    He said, “Following the distress, Police Patrol Team attached to Obosi Division led by the DPO SP. Usman Ibrahim visited the scene and rushed the victims to Unity Hospital Obosi.

    “Preliminary investigation revealed that victims were suspected to have been drowned and carried away by heavy downpour on the 3/11/2018 at about 6:30pm from the area heavily ravaged by flood/erosion as a result of the downpour within the same locality.

    “The female body was later identified as Mrs Oluchi Nwafor ‘f’, Staff of First Bank Ochanja branch, Onitsha while effort is ongoing to establish identity of the male victim.”

    He said Police Patrol teams have been deployed to the affected areas to save lives and prevent hoodlums from taking advantage of the situation, adding that the case was being investigated.

  • Flood kills 20-year-old in Anambra

    Ifejika Umuiza, a 20-year-old boy from Ogbetiti village in Odekpe community, Ogbaru, Anambra has been reported killed by flood.

    Arinzechukwu Awogu, the Transition Committee chairman of Ogbaru Council Area disclosed this in Awka on Tuesday.

    Awogu said Ifejika drowned in the receding flood which swept him into a nearby deep pond near their compound in Ochuche Umuodu, in Ogbetiti Village in the Odekpe Community, where they lived.

    The council boss said he, alongside other appointees of government, had visited and commiserated with the family over the unfortunate incident.

    He regretted the number of lives so far lost to flood in the council area

    Awogu said the total number of deaths in Ogbaru since the flood disaster hit the area had risen to 11.

    “Ifejika got drowned just a few metres away from his family house as the receding flood at the back of their home swept him deep into a nearby pond.

    “The incident happened at Ochuche Umuodu.

    “Ifejika’s death brings the total number of deaths recorded since the 2018 flood disaster started in Ogbaru LGA to 11,” he said.

  • Residents groan as flood destroy properties in Alimosho

    Residents of Aboru in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State on Monday woke up to count loses caused by flood, following a heavy rain that lasted from Sunday night to early hours of Monday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that as a result of the flood many residents could not sleep in the night.

    NAN observed that residents stood in batches at the frontage of their houses and shops lamenting the havoc caused by the rain while some were seen carrying belongings affected by the rain outside.

    Many fences were pulled down while the entire Aboru Road in Iyana-Ipaja was filled with mud and garbage moved to the area by the flood.

    Many of the residents and shop owners who spoke with NAN linked the recurring flooding to the alleged abandoned bridge connecting Iyana-Ipaja to Aboru, saying the bridge was taking much water than it could.

    According to them, whenever it rains, not only in the area but also in other places like Abule Egba, Abattior in Agege, the water being channeled to the bridge affect residents of the area.

    An elderly landlord, Mr Solomon Egbodhoroma said that the people in the area had been suffering because of the abandoned bridge.

    He alleged that what the government constructed was a culvert and not bridge.

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    Egbodhoroma said: “I could not sleep since 2 a.m. when the rain started because the water spilled over to the window level of my one storey building and pulled down my fence.

    “Our challenge in Aboru road here is the canal that the government refuses to do. What is here is better described as a culvert not a bridge. Every year, we suffer a lot and lose property.

    “The recurrent flood has sent away people in my ground floor as you can see. I have been restricted to the upstairs and every year, my house is always affected.

    “The channelisation of over 35 drainages to this area is a problem we face, and the government has refused to do it even after the contract was said to have been awarded as far back as 2012.’’

    The retire civil servant, who noted that he got to the area in 1979, said that home owners had made efforts to fix the problem.

    “We have equally written to the state government and house of assembly without result.

    “After series of letters, the government refused to answer us, we went there to protest and they promised to come but they did not. We are pleading with the government to come and do this bridge.

    “Where can I go from here being close to 70 years? A lot of people have left after losing property. I have suffered enough,” he said.

    Also, a Septuagenarian landlord, Harryi Iduwe urged the government to come to their aid by ensuring the construction of a standard bridge in the area that could withstand the volume of water channeled into it.

    Iduwe, whose house was also inundated with water, said the canal had been bringing untold hardship annually to residents.

    “Any time it rains, we are in trouble as water flows from the canal to all streets here. We call on the government to look at our afflictions,” he said.

    A furniture maker, Mr Gift Wejem said that the flood did not only carry away a set of furniture and wood that were kept outside the shop, but also inundated materials, machines and power plant kept in the shop.

    “The situation was not like this when I came in. The problem is flood and the increasing volume of water channeled here. The bridge we have here is not bridge.

    “So, since much water is expected to pass into it, it gets filled up and water flows back to nearby houses,” Wejem told NAN.

    Mr Suleiman Adedokun, another shop owner said: “This water is too much, it entered my shop and as you can see, I have been moving the water out since morning.

    “Government should please come and do this canal, drains and road. It is long overdue. This road and drain must be raised to end our plights.”

    NAN reports that as at about 11a.m., so many business owners, tenants and landlords are still busy evacuating water, refuse and mud the flood moved to their apartments.