Twelve towns, mainly in Etsako Central Local Government Area in the Edo North Senatorial District, have been completely inundated by floodwaters as a result of recent severe rains that have caused the River Niger to breach its banks.
Udaba-Ekphei, Anegbette, Ukpeko Orle, Ofukpo, Agbabu, Osomegbe, Udochi, Yelwa, Ake Island, and Ifeku Islay are a few of the communities that have been most severely affected.
The water level in most communities is above window level, forcing many residents to flee. Those who were able to travel do so in canoes because this is the worst flood they have experienced since 2012, when they thought they had seen it all. Markets, schools, churches, and mosques all have been taken oven by flood.
The terrible floods have entirely flooded agricultural products like rice, cassava, vegetables, potatoes, groundnuts, and others.
The people are pleading with the federal, state, and local administrations to assist them before flood-related fatalities begin to occur.
An indigene of Udaba, Mr Isaac Omoaka said, “My village is completely submerged. Since I was born, I have never seen such a thing. This year’s flood is 10 times that of 2012.
“We have a prominent son who built schools, a hospital complete with a mortuary, laboratory, x-ray and several amenities all of them now are under the water.”
The Edo State Commissioner for Special Duties, Osasere Evboumwan on Sunday said, “I was in Etsako Central last Friday with NEMA, SEMA, the Head of Local Government Administration, WHO and others.
“We are sending our report now to see how we can provide relief for them.
“Their farms have been taken over by water. It is a yearly flood and NEMA said the only solution to this is to dredge River Niger otherwise it will continue to occur.
“For the immediate solution, we are going to be supplying food to them, the Internally Displaced Persons’ centre in Ogomeri is dry with good facilities there but the people are reluctant to come there. We are preparing the IDP camp for them, there are mattresses there, there is a generator, fridge is there, the kitchen is there and we will beef up the medical centre.”
