This came months after predictions by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency as well as the National Emergency Management Agency that some local government areas in the state would experience high flooding this year.
Some of the affected residents said the flooding took them by surprise, saying they lost life investments and valuables and called on the local and state governments to come to their aid.
While listing some of the affected communities as Umuegbulum 1 and 2, Oyigbo West, and Umuokologbe, they said the floods have chased them from their houses, lamenting that some of them have sought refuge in the Internally Displaced Persons camp.
Sunday Anayo, a resident of Oyigbo West added, “As I speak to you now, there is water everywhere from the road down to my compound. Some people have even left their houses because of the situation. The flood is big and we were thinking it won’t come again,
“This is very surprising. From what I heard the local government has opened one IDP camp and many of the people affected badly are there. Some people will still join them there.”
On her part, Chinaza said, “My mattress, electronics, documents, and children’s property, everything was affected. The level of water is something else. Imagine a fridge being covered by the water. More than 200 people now don’t have a place to stay.
“So we just escaped by running away and we found ourselves here. We are just helpless now and we are begging the government to come to our aid because the camp they set up may not contain all those affected.”
Another lady who did not want her name in print said, ”We could not even recover anything from our house because of the water, It was the grace of God that made me even bring out only my son’s school bag.”
Speaking, the Chairman of Oyigbo LGA, Nwaogu Akara said the council has already started evacuating affected residents to the IDP camp in the area.
Akara stated, “In our meetings, we agreed that we are going to approach the problem in phases and we have swung into action and started preparing. We are done with the first phase.
“The second phase is what we are facing now. The flood finally has arrived. The State Government has assisted us in fixing a place and we have started moving displaced persons to the IDP camp.
“We will try our best, as a government, to make sure that our people don’t suffer as a result of this occurrence, even as he thanked the state government for its assistance to the council to cater for the displaced residents.
