Heavy Floods Displace Over 1000 Victims, Destroy Farmlands in Anambra

Posted by Ignatius Okpara Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Tuesday, September 15th, 2020

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Not less than 200 households with about 1000 persons have been forced out of their homes to upland in Ogbaru council area of Anambra state, Southeast Nigeria, following deadly flooding from overflow of the River Niger Bank.

African Examiner gathered that the development has equally submerged huge hectares of farmlands in the Area

Ogbaru Local government transition Committee Chairman, Comrade Arinze Awogu, who disclosed this to newsmen said that the ugly situation was aggravated due to steady rise of water level in the area.

Our Correspondent reports that Ogbaru is a Local Government Area with all the 16 communities that makes up the area on the bank of River Niger, a development that makes it one of the most vulnerable to flooding in the State.

It would be recalled that during the 2018 deadly flooding that wrecked serious havoc in most states in Nigeria, including Anambra state, twelve persons were drowned in Ogbaru alone among other ravaging effects including destruction of property and farmlands valued several millions.

The council boss added that the displaced persons have moved to join their relation on the safer side and that they have not moved into Displaced Persons Holding Camp yet.

Comrade Arinze said the produce of the people have either been washed away or written in the ground as there was no longer free access to the farms, saying those who could not bear the consequential loss have been forced into premature harvesting.

According to him, three Holding Camps have been designated in Community Secondary School Odekpe, Local Government Secretariat Atani and St. James Anglican Church Iyiowa and that the facilities would be supplied according to the number of people who came to take refuge there.

He therefore, urged the affected persons to move into the camps immediately and not wait until the flooding become servers.

“As I am talking to you, Ogbaru is gradually but steadily going under water, our farms have become submerged especially the root crops and more than 1,000 persons have been displaced from their homes.

“They have joined their families upland, they have refused to go to the Holding Camps.

“You know we are riverine people, our occupation is agriculture, the farm produce of Ogbaru people and people who came to farm here are being washed away by the flood,” he said.

He said the streams and water channels that emptied into River Niger had started flowing backwards and had become white, adding that that was a clear indication that the river level had risen and that the water was flowing into the communities, hinting that Atani, Akili-Ozizor, Odekpe, Ohita commutites have been overwhelmingly flooded.