Flood Submerges 500 Houses In Rivers Community

Residents of Rumuoha
community, Eneka, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State have again cried out over the frequent flooding of the area as more than 500 houses are now said to be submerged.
A resident of the area who spoke on behalf of the community on Saturday, Israel Chinda, lamented that between 1000 to 1500 people were affected also saying that others have now moved out of their homes for fear of being affected by the flood and losing their means of livelihood as business activities in that area were grinding to a halt as a result of the continued flooding.
According to Chinda, “the flood situation here is like a Tsunami, many have moved out of the place. It is extremely very difficult for us to actually do any thing. Over 500 houses are now submerged”.
He added, that “the worst affected are children, they can’t go to school and are at risk of drowning, also business activities are shutting down”.
He lamented that in spite of crying out to government for help, nothing is being done and again urged the government to look into the situation and urgently take steps to curb the imminent danger while calling on the Ministry of Environment to carry out an environment audit of the area, saying, “environmental impact assessment is key before any construction can be carried out”.
Another resident, Peter Gbenga expressed concern that the flooding may bring about an outbreak of epidemic, alleging that the floodwater carried along with it human excreta and other debris.
Also reacting, the youth president of the area, Chimenem Nwoda, blamed the flooding on a road construction where the contractor had failed to properly channel the water, and appealed to the state government to intervene.
“We are appealing to the state government to call on the DMS Construction Company that built the road and channeled the water to this area to come up and excavate the tunnel, in order to control the flood so that we can recover our homes”.

Tonye Nria-Dappa