Flood Submerges Anambra LGAs, Displaces 34,000 People

• Flood

No fewer than 34, 000 persons are displaced with 9,000 presently taking refuge in various Holding Camps as a result of flood that ravaged six local government areas (LGAs) of Anambra.

Mr Chukwudi Onyejekwe, a Director in Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (ASEMA), who led newsmen on tour of Anambra East and Anambra West LGAs disclosed this on Thursday.

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Onyejekwe, who was joined by a team of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) from Enugu office, described the situation in the areas as a disaster of monumental proportion.

He said that Anambra East, Anambra West and Ogbaru Local Government Areas were completely submerged, while Awka North, Anyamelum and Ihiala were partially submerged.

He said the Anambra Government was responding to the emergency within the limits of resources available, including creation of camps, evacuation of affected people and provision of minimum comfort for the displaced persons in camps.

Onyejekwe appealed that much was still needed to appropriately address the challenge at hand.

“It is a pathetic situation, Anambra is under siege because about 50 per cent of the land area of the state is submerged.

“In Enugu-Otu, Mpku-Nando, Eziagulu-Otu the towns are deserted, people are fishing in their homes” he said.

On his part, Mr Chinedu Ekeh, who represented Fred Anusim, the Enugu Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, said their mission was to have physical assessment of the disaster to enable the agency plan its responses.

“Our mission is to carry out on-the-spot assessment of the situation here based on NIMET and Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency prediction on flooding and we have seen the devastation.

“The six local governments are under water; at Eziagulu-Otu I was moved to tears, the place is totally submerged, people are displaced, a few of them were stuck upstairs and they now fish in the streets and market areas.

“The areas affected are inhabited areas, we shall take the report to the office,” he said.

Kachi Okoye, who is a victim of the flood seen fishing at the Village Square, appealed to the government to come to their aid and alleviate their plight.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some residents of the flooded areas were still living on the first floor of their houses and using canoes to move about.

Churches and schools are shut with no operational medical facilities in the area.