Sittipe Mfin reports that the flood led to the collapse of a bridge in the Ikot Ikere/ Ikot Udo Ekop communities in the local government, which has led to the people crying out for help from the government.

A call for intervention from the government was made on Tuesday, November 1, by the village head of Ikot Udo Ekop, Eteidung Sunday Dan Etokakpan, which led to the transition committee chairman of the council, Barr. Ukana Udofia, to visit the community to see things for himself.

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Lamenting the suffering the people go through, Eteidung Etokakpan said:

“Our children can’t go to school. Some female teachers working in our primary school who came to school on Monday had to go back because they were afraid to walk on the bamboo construction across the water.

Our women can’t go to market. Our businesses are crumbling, we have been cut-off from other communities.”

The cut off community

Photo Credit: Sittipe Mfin

Prince Uko Sunday Dan, a youth leader in the community, said the flood caused the local bridge to collapse, thereby forcing the community to hurriedly construct one using bamboos and planks.

“The bridge dates back to the early 1960s; all these years, we’ve been using the bridge but we observed last year that the volume of water passing under it was increasing as a result of the drainage emptying at Obot Idim.

So on Sunday after a heavy rain, the bridge, and the entire area was submerged, so the bridge collapsed.

We have made a small bridge with bamboo and planks so that our children and their teachers can at least go to school, but most of the children and teachers cannot walk on that plank.”

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Barr. Udofia has however promised the community that he would take their plight to Governor Udom Emmanuel and that he will surely send help to them.