Three persons are feared dead while over 200,000 have reportedly been displaced by a rampaging flood in four local government areas of Rivers State.
The four local government areas, according to investigation, are; Abua/Odual, Ahoada West, Ahoada East and Ogba/Ebema/Ndoni.
Investigation also revealed that the flood also destroyed properties worth billions of naira, including farm lands, houses and other properties.
The Tide also learnt that some of the few internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps, particularly the ones in Mbiama, Akinima and Joinkrama 1 and 11 are already over-stretched with a large number of displaced residents.
According to investigations, communities affected by the flood in Ahoada West are; Mbiama, Joinkrama 1 and 11, Ogbogolo, Akinima and Akianiso.
The rest are; Igovia, Ikodi,Ususu, Isua, Odau and Edagberi.
Similarly, some communities in Ekpeye section of the local government, which include, Ikodu Ekpeye, Olokuma, Odiereke, Ubie Ubeta, Ula, Ubie and Ebiriba 1 and 11, are also affected.
In Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, the entire Ndoni district is now reported to be under water.
Some communities affected in the district are Ndoni Main Town, Asi Azaga, Otikiri Isukwa, and Agwe, while in Ogba district of the LGA, residents of the entire Usomini and parts of Egi clans have been ravaged by the flood.
Communities affected in the area are, Oboburu, Obagi, Idu Osobile, Idu Obosiukwu, and Ohali.
The rest are, Obohia, Obakata, Okposi, Ugbe Uguta, Obrikom, and Umuchikere.
A resident of Idu Osobile, Ezeukwu Joeza told The Tide that his people now sleep on roof tops.
He said the incident has affected communication and movement of persons in the community.
According to him, movement from one corner of the community to the other is now done with canoe.
A resident of Mbiama, Mr. Ogbam Orugba told The Tide that he has lost all his farm lands to the flood.
Orugba said the IDP camps in the area are already congested, stressing that the camps need mosquito nets, water and food.
Speaking, Mrs Jack Miller said that women were the worst affected because they lost all their farmlands to the flood.
She said that farmers in the area were now engaged in premature harvesting of cassava.
“The women are the worst affected because they lost all their cassava to the flood” she added.
Also speaking to The Tide at Ndoni, the Onueze of Ndoni, Chief John Ugboma Obi likened the flood to that of 2012, stressing that the entire Ndoni clan has been submerged by the flood.
Reacting to the incident, the Secretary of Omoku City Council of Traditional Rulers, Chief Martins Olowu, said over 3,000 persons in Usomini clan and Omoku were now internally displaced.
According to him, 10 communities have been completely submerged by flood while 3,000 persons are now refugees in their homelands.
He also put the clan’s loses at hundreds of millions of naira.
Also reacting, the Engenni Eminent Persons Forum lamented the level of destruction caused by perennial flooding in the area.
The Chairman of the forum, Dr. Harvey Warman, told The Tide in an interview that the whole Engenni Kingdom was gone.
He also said the situation has brought untold hardship to his people.
Warman called for the dredging of the Orashi River as well as the construction of shore protection round communities in the area.
In his remarks, the Eze Egi of Ogbaland, Prof Anele Uzondu Wokoma, called for relief materials for the people.
When contacted, the South-South Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Brandon Walson, described the incident as one of the worst in the area.
He said the roads leading to some of the affected communities have been cut off by the surging water, and called on the government to come to their rescue.