No fewer than 850 houses have been destroyed after a fresh flood disaster swept through eight federal wards in Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State.
An official from the Information and Protocol Unit of the Council Area, Mohammed Yusuf, confirmed the development to The PUNCH in Jos on Tuesday after a tour of the affected communities.
Yusuf said the flood also rendered several residents homeless, while many farmlands were equally washed away.
According to him, the federal wards mostly affected included Garga, Dengi, Jarmai, Gagdi, Kantana, Jom, Kunkyan and Mumbutbo.
He said the rainfall that caused the flood in the affected communities lasted for about five days, adding that the council had set up a committee to ascertain the extent of damage in the affected communities
Yusuf said, “In the last five days, approximately eight of the 14 federal wards in Kanam Local Government Area have been ravaged by floods, causing enormous damage in the affected areas. We have visited some of the affected communities, and the situation at hand is rather unfortunate because, in Garga federal ward, we have over 200 houses destroyed by the flood.
“We also have over 150 houses destroyed in Dengi Ward, while over 150 houses were destroyed in Jarmai. Our records also show that more than 200 houses were equally destroyed in Gagdi Ward and another 150 in Kankyan Ward. You also find the same destruction of houses in Jom and Mumbutbo wards, with each of them recording over 150 houses.”
Speaking further on the situation, Yusuf said, “For now, we have not received reports of any loss of life, but we have several residents who are currently displaced as a result of the flood disaster in the affected communities.
“A team has been set up by the Local Government Council following the flood disaster. The officials are still visiting the affected communities to determine the extent of damage, and I’m sure their report will be made public when they are done with the assignment.’’
The official called on the state and the National Emergency Management Agency to come to the aid of the flood victims to alleviate their suffering.
Delta riverine community
In a related development, residents of the Ayakoromo community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State have cried out to the state government to provide them with palliatives and also evacuate them to upland following the flood that submerged the community.
A statement issued on Monday and signed by the community’s chairman, Richard Momoh, copies of which were made available to journalists in Warri, called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, leaders of Burutu Local Government Council, and other interventionist bodies like Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission and Niger Delta Development Commission to urgently come to the aid of the community by taking proactive steps to save lives and property.
The statement lamented that academic activities had been paralysed in all schools in the riverine community as classrooms had been submerged by the increasing flood.
It also noted that the residents’ means of livelihood had been adversely affected as farmlands had equally submerged.
“Residential buildings have been submerged by the flood, and house owners and the entire community have been forced to make compulsory relocation,” it read.
