Edo Flood sacks 35 communities, renders 30,000 homeless

No fewer than 35 communities in the Etsako East and Etsako Central Local Government Areas of Edo State have been sacked by flood, occasioned by incessant rains and overflow of the River Niger.

The flood which displaced over 30,000 residents also damaged hundreds of hectares of farmland across the two council areas.

Communities mostly affected by the flood included Udaba, Anegbette, Usomegbe, Uduchiz all in the Etsako Central Local Government.

Similarly, the flood also sacked the entire six Uneme clans in South East Uneme, Okpekpe, among others, in the Etsako East Local Government Area.

The Etsako East Chairman, Mr Aremiyau Momoh and his counterpart in Etsako Central, Mr John Akhigbe, said the disaster was beyond the council areas.

They called for urgent intervention from both the state and the Federal Governments.

The duo said camps for the internally displaced persons were in strategic locations across the council areas.

Akhigbe said apart from the Resettlement Camp built after a similar disaster in 2012; about five other camps were being prepared for the victims.

Also, Momoh said six camps had been opened in Etsako East for the same purpose.

He said, “We have tried our best as far as the councils are concerned. We are hoping and appealing to the Federal Government to urgently intervene on this matter.”

The clan Head of Uzanu, South East Uneme in the Estako East council area, Benjamin Ikani, also lamented the flood which sacked six communities in his domain.

He said that over 1,700 persons from the six communities were now homeless.

Ikani listed communities affected by the flood to include Uneme-Ekwuekpele, Uneme-Ogwoyo, Uneme-Ukpeku, Uneme-Ogbethaya, Uneme-Yeluwa and Uneme-Unubu.

He said he relocated some widows, old women and children to Uzanu community to enable their children attend school.

He added that the displaced persons had been moved to higher ground at Uneme-Yeluwa and awaiting help from the state government.

Ikani said that he reported the matter to the relevant authorities but had yet got any reply.

Similarly, the Anambra State Government has advised people living in flood-prone areas to immediately relocate to approved internally displaced persons centres across the state.