Floods Submerge Rivers, Bayelsa Communities

L-R:Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Engr Tele Ikuru, Chairman, Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Council, Hon Maclean Uranta, Deputy Speaker, Federal House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha and member representing Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency, Hon Dakuku Peterside, during the Andoni-Opobo-Nkoro Economic Summit, in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

No fewer than 18 communities in Engeni,  Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers
State have been cut off from the rest of the state by flood occasioned by the
over-flowing of Orashi River. The communities can only be accessed by boat.

Communities mostly affected by the disaster are Udoda,
Igovia, Kunsha Ikodi town, Mbiama, Akinima, Okolobiama, Okparaki, Okarki town,
Akiogbologbo Agbo, Ishiaye, Akioiso, Isusu, Isua, Odqwa, Edagberi and
Betterland.

The flood also affected some communities in Ndoni in
Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of the state.

A visit to the communities in Ahoada-West Local Government
Area on Tuesday morning showed that scores of families had fled their ancestral
homes to safer areas, even as some houses have been submerged by the
devastating flood.

Farmers in the affected communities were forced to begin
early harvesting of their root crops, particularly yam and cassava, in order
not to lose all their produce to the flood.

The National Orientation and Mobilisation officer in charge
of the council, Mr Gladstone Adus, told The Tide that the council was on top of
the situation.

However, efforts to reach the council Chairman, Mr Awori
Miller was not successful.

Meanwhile, more communities in Bayelsa State have been
submerged by ravaging floods.

All communities in Ekeremor, Southern Ijaw, Sagbama have
been submerged, while parts of Yenagoa, Kolokuma/Opokuma, and Ogbia are also
affected.

At Ekeremor, two children bathing in their compound were
said to have been carried away by water current and their corpses have not been
seen.

As at the time of reporting, no school is functioning in all
the affected areas, not even the health centres.

At Sagbama, The Tide Reporter who was ferried into the
community in a boat discovered that no government office was functioning,
including the divisional police headquarters.

Few police men around were seen discussing in groups along
the path to their divisional office.

Last Tuesday, the state Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson began
assessment tour of all the affected areas.

Dickson,expressed his sympathy, promising that everything
humanly possible would be done to cushion their sufferings.

Dickson, whose community Toru-Orua was the very first
community to suffer the flood, called on the Federal Government to assist the
state by providing relief materials to the victims.

A victim, Tari Ofongo, pleaded that what they needed most is
shelter, saying that for the past three days his family has been cooking and
sleeping along the road.

However, the Special Adviser on Emergency and Relief
Matters, to Governor Dickson, Mrs .Faith Opene,said government had established
a relief camp at Sagbama town and working out modalities to set up some in
other areas.

Opene appealed to the federal government to come to the aid
of flood victims in the state by finding a lasting solution to the flood
problem.

When contracted, the zonal Manager NEMA, South-South, Mr
Umesi Emenike  said that that agency has
visited and assessed the affected local governments.

Mr Umesi said after the assessment, the agency would
commence work on how to resettle the communities.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Commissioner for Environment, Dr
Nyema Worlu has also assured that the state government would intervene to
ameliorate the suffering of the people.

The Speaker of
the  House of Assembly, Rt Hon Otelemaba
Amachree has lamented the huge losses and social dislocation caused the people
of the state, particularly in Ahoada West and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local
Government Areas by floods.

Rt Hon Amachree, while commiserating with chiefs, women and
the youth of the area, assured that urgent steps would be taken to reduce the
impact of the floods on their homes and means of livelihood.

The Speaker pledged that a legal and proper administrative
framework would soon be put in place to promptly tackle such incidents in the
future.

The story of communities in Ahoada West, which are close
neighbours to Bayelsa are terrifying tales of clear agony, disappointment, and
anxiety especially the people of
Akinima, the council headquarters where churches, schools, residential
buildings even the JTF office have all be submerged.

Just across the other side of Orashi river, Ekpeye
communities like Oshiebele, Oshi, Odiereke-Ubie, the home of Eze Ekpeye Logbo,
Robinson O. Robinson, Ikodi, Enito, Akara-mini are crying.

Aaron Fyneface, Yenagoa