News Editor
By David Odama
Over 25 communities living along the bank of the River Niger in Edo state have been submerged following the release of water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.
The affected communities TMS news gathered are in the Etsako East, Etsako Central, and Esan South East local government areas of Edo state.
The Desk Officer of the Esan South East Local Government on Relief Materials and Distribution, Christopher Ojimah, confirmed the flood devastating situation saying that there were some communities such as Ifeku, that have been completely submerged and their property and livestock swept away.
Ojimah, the Local Government Secretary of the Emergency Committee, said the Internally displaced camp in the local government had already been filled by displaced persons.
“The release of water from the Lagdo Dam has caused flooding in these three local government areas with attendant devastation on those whose houses have been submerged with residents abandoning their houses.
“Some communities, especially, Ifeku, are completely submerged and their properties and livestock swept away. The IDP camp in Esan South East is already filled with residents.”
Report quoted a resident of the affected area, John Odaku, as saying that their farmlands had been submerged as they could not salvage their crops and livestock.
“Our crops such as yam, cassava, and groundnut among others, have been submerged by flood while farm produce already harvested were swept away. We could not take our belongings due to the high volume of the flood, which is more than what we experienced last year.
“We couldn’t salvage our crops and farm produce and livestock as they were swept away by the ravaging flood.”
Meanwhile, reports had it that the National Emergency Management Agency has charged the people to relocate to IDP camps to avoid casualties.
Speaking on the development, the NEMA Head of Benin Operation Office, Dahiru Yusuf, said the agency had been monitoring the flood situation in collaboration with state and local governments and other stakeholders.
“Three local governments of Esan South East, Etsako East and Etsako Central are affected and some communities are displaced already. We have visited all the flood-prone local governments to assess their level of preparedness. Most of the IDP camps in the various local governments are ready for use.”
