Flood displaces 3,200 people in Imo - Agency says

chika ebuzor

September 22, 2017 10:39 PM

The NEMA Coordinator, Owerri operations office, Mr Evans Ugoh, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Friday.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said a total of three thousand two hundred people (3,200) people were affected following the Thursday’s flooding in Federal Housing Egbu, Owerri North Local Government in Imo.

The agency also disclosed that property worth over N50 millions were destroyed by the flood.

The NEMA Coordinator, Owerri operations office, Mr Evans Ugoh, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

Ugoh said the primary cause of the heavy flooding in the area was the ongoing urban renewal embarked upon by the state government.

He explained that contractors working in various sites have destroyed the central drainage system, which was connected to the popular Otammiri River in the state.

Ugoh said the waterways were disorganised and the flood eventually found its way to the area where so many houses were submerged.

NAN reports that the down pour, which started early hours of Thursday, wreaked havoc in Federal Housing Egbu, bank road, Amakaohia.

Ugoh, however, lamented that contractors working in various sites in the ongoing urban renewal programme of Gov. Rochas Okorocha had caused more harm than good.

“Our drainage is gone and most houses built on the waterways will continue to have this problem until the anomaly is corrected”, he said.

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He advised that Imo government to implore uncommon courage and willpower to demolish all the houses built on the waterways.

He also advised the government to ensure close monitoring on contractors working in various sites and mandate them to channel the waterways properly.

The NEMA boss disclosed that he has requested for some relief materials, saying that NEMA will intervene in due soon.

chika ebuzor