Flood submerges 4 communities, renders over 400 homeless in C’River

Judex Okoro, Calabar

An unprecedented flood has wreaked havoc on residents of Calabar metropolis as over 200 houses have been flooded and 400 persons displaced in Cross River state

Some of the major areas affected by the flood include Cross River State University of Technology, CRUTECH, staff quarters, Mayne Avenue all, in Calabar South, Ikot-Uduak , Akai- Effa and Etap Ayip community all in Calabar municipality .

The ravaging flood, which occurred following a two-day heavy downpour on Wednesday and early hours of Thursday, did not only destroy valuable house-hold items worth several millions of naira, but sacked the residents from their houses and rendering them homeless.

When Daily Sun visited some of the affected communities, the residents were seen trying to salvage some of the house-hold items while the children and the elderly trapped in the flood were being evacuated to nearby homes, not too affected by the ravaging flood.

Some of the affected victims told DAILY SUN that it was not a new thing to them as the flooding has been a perennial incidence, stressing that though they had appealed to government through letters to come to their rescue, there was no quick intervention.

At CRUTECH, some of the residents in the quarters could not go out due to the intensity of the rain and the flood, which submerged some houses.

A resident, who simply gave his name as John Idong, said “We are struck and you can see we are trying to scoop water from our rooms just to find a way out of the quarter. We only pray we would not be attacked by dangerous animals that usually come with the heavy down pour.

“Once again, we plead with the Government to come to our rescue as we have suffered for over ten years and have lost our valuables to flood. Maybe until we are all wiped out then the government would set up a task force.”

Also decrying the situation, the Clan Head, Kasuk II Qua Clan ,Ntoe Ededem Ayito, said: “My subjects are facing adding that many of them have lost property worth millions including cars during such heavy down pours.

“The first time we experienced such was in 2012 when they started the Jonathan By-Pass because of the ring culvert they used, the water from Effio-Ette and MCC all flow to this axis because the current of the water is high the ring-culvert cannot contain it.

“Whenever the rain is heavy ,all the communities along that line and channeled becomes submerged by flood, I have lost furniture more than three times because of this and a car ,last two years because water entered the engine and it was beyond repairs , I had to scrap the car .

“We are appealing to the Cross River state government to help us, they should build a bigger culvert or construct a small bridge along the road so that water can flow freely into the river, a lot of people are suffering as a result of this ugly menace.