Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) and Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had warned that Anambra and 27 other states would suffer devastating flood this year. True to the prediction, Anambra State has been submerged by unprecedented flood.
The state government was overwhelmed by the natural disaster to the point that Governor Willie Obiano had to rush to Abuja on Tuesday, October 6, in search of help. Obiano cried for President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention in alleviating the suffering of over 5,000 people displaced by flood in four local government areas of the state.
Obiano, who stated this after his meeting with Buhari, said that he was in the Presidential Villa to brief the President on their predicament and appeal to him for intervention because of his people’s loss of properties and farm produce.
Presenting their plight, he said: “Four of my local governments out of 21 are under water as we speak because of this flood and it affected a lot of things, which include properties, farm produce and what have you. So, I called on Mr. President to assist us at this very crucial time being a COVID-19 time and now, the flood we are experiencing this time around is like 2012, which was terrible.
“So, he promised to do something immediately. We have over 5,000 people displaced and we already prepared some receptacles where we received the displaced people.”
Tales of devastation
Ogbaru LGA has been the worst hit in Anambra State as the flood sacked 13 communities following the rise of the River Niger and the overflowing of its banks in the area. Hunger, hardship and suffering now pervade the area.
Schools, churches, a naval outpost, a police station, markets, farms, hundreds of residential houses, including the family house of the Senator Stella Oduah, representing Anambra North, and part of the palace of the traditional ruler of Atani, Igwe Augustine Ngoddy, were submerged. Others from the area whose property were also affected included chairman of the local government council, Chief Arinzechukwu Awogu, and former Secretary to the State Government, Oseloka Obaze, among others.
The photographs and videos on social media, where people were cooking and eating food standing waist-deep in water actually depict the true situation in Ogbaru communities.
When Daily Sun visited the area, some displaced families were removing their household items and other valuables, while others used canoes to access their homes as flood had overrun their houses.
Communities worst hit were Atani, Odekpe, Osomala, Umuzu, Umunankwo, Ogwuaniocha, Ogwuekpele, Akili, Akiliogidi, Ochuche, Ogbaku and Mputu, among others.
Awogu said that three internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) camps, otherwise known as holding camps, have been created for those sacked by the flood, where about 1,010 families have relocated, until the water level reduces.
He said three deaths have been recorded so far, explaining that two persons were electrocuted through the floodwater, while one person drowned in the flood. He added that all the electricity lines in the affected areas have been disconnected to avoid further disaster.
Awogu said that farms, agricultural produce, household property and many houses were destroyed, stressing that the displaced families were taking refuge at the council secretariat, Primary School, Odekpe, and St. James Anglican Church, Iyiowa, while additional centres were created at Ogwuaniocha, Ochuche and Osamala communities.
Awogu disclosed that some materials such as mattresses, mats, blankets and buckets were distributed to the IDPs at the centres. He called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to come to their aid as the number of the IDPs has been increasing daily because the committee on flood disaster in the area has been going into the villages to evacuate more people trapped by the flood.
In addition, the level of the river was still rising every day. He called on families living at the bank of the river to evacuate to IDP camps close to them to avoid loss of life. Awogu further said that 13 out of 16 communities in the LGA were affected and the remaining three communities may be affected based on the way the water was increasing by the day.
Awogu said: “We are expecting food and non-food items from NEMA and other individuals because those in the camps need food. Very many of them are starving, as we speak. The challenges we have are that our people are emotionally attached to their homes and refuse to leave their homes to relocate to the IDP camps, but we have increased the awareness. We are hopeful that we will see more numbers of IDPs.”
He said that all the schools in the affected communities have been closed, except those writing their external examinations that were allowed to do so with serious monitoring and protection. Awogu also said that the state’s ministry of health was moving to set up health units with health officers in all the holding centres to cater for the health needs of the displaced persons.
The disturbing situation had made the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) team to move into Ogbaru LGA, where they got first-hand information about the flood menace in the area.
Executive secretary of SEMA, Cyril Agupugo, who described the situation there as very terrible, had ordered the immediate evacuation of people to safer ground and holding centres, adding that the state government was making arrangements for the provision of food and other materials for those in the camps.
Also describing the situation in Ogbaru as devastating, chairman of the Local Emergency Management Agency, Anambra State, Nnamdi Esmai, stated that urgent attention was needed to save lives. He noted that thousands of people were at the IDP camps.
Catalogue of woes and neglect
A teacher at the Community Secondary School, Atani, Jennifer Ijomah, who spoke with our correspondent, confirmed that a student was rescued on Tuesday, October 6, when she was swept away by the raging flood while trying to enter the school compound.
A displaced person, Arinze Obaze, said that flood submerged his family house, making life difficult for him and others in their community. He called on the federal and state governments to immediately move in with food and other materials to the holding centres to assist displaced persons.
One of the displaced persons, a 35-year-old pregnant woman from Atani community, Mrs. Agatha Nwaka, said she and her entire family had been in the council secretariat camps for over one week.
“We were sleeping when the ravaging flood woke us up and we ran for our dear lives, the water destroyed all our household items as well as our farms, we did not remove anything from the house. We are hungry; we have not seen any food to eat yet. We thank the state government for giving us accommodation and other materials but we are yet to see food. I was a businesswoman before the flood but now I don’t do anything anymore. I have not gone for antenatal since we came to this place.”
Another displaced person, a 72-year-old Sunday Izuoba from Atani community, said that the flood completely destroyed his house and swept the entire household materials into the river. He added that he only came to the camp with his wife and children.
“I succeeded in saving my wife and three children through the help of others who brought a canoe to rescue us from our home. We are not finding it easy here in the camp. My children are sick due to the rain that fell on us and I don’t have money to buy drugs for them.
“We need food, drugs, mattresses, mosquito nets, potable water and other materials. The little materials the state government brought will not go round. We call on good-spirited individuals to come to our aid, since we have lost everything we had to the flood,” he said.
Another victim, Nnanwa Obiefune, also said that he lost everything he had laboured for years to acquire in the flood.
He said: “The flood started gradually some weeks ago. It was a bad experience we had. All the tenants in my house suffered this same fate and have all left. All my properties have been destroyed, it is only the one I’m carrying out now that were saved. The flood destroyed over N10 million worth of property. It is not only me, it affected the entire community. We need government’s assistance because we are suffering.”
Also lamenting their neglect at the holding centre in Atani, a septuagenarian, Mrs. Mary Uzor, said there was no food and they were sleeping on the floor with cloth wrappers or mats they escaped with from their homes.
“We are starving here at the holding centre. Nobody has given us any item; no food, no good water, medical service, no mattress and no mosquito nets. We go out to buy drugs for our sick children and we feed ourselves. They brought us here and dumped us to starve to death. Some of us have stayed here for two weeks, sleeping on the floor. We wait for our men who go out in search of food to come back to the centre before we eat,” she said.
Other displaced persons at the Atani camp, including Mrs. Chinelo Uzo, 50, Mrs. Maria Emeka, 60, Miss Joy Alale and Mrs. Amaka Orichi, all appealed to government agencies, good-spirited individuals and corporate organisations to come to their aid by providing them with food and other essential commodities at the camps.
“We are in urgent need of mattresses, mosquito nets, food, drugs, water and other materials. Some of the people who came to the centre are leaving because the place is not conducive for living. We sleep on the floor. In short, there is nothing in this camp for us to make use of. They only kept us in two big halls and we spread our wrappers on the floor to sleep with our children.
“It is difficult for us here because we don’t have light (power) and we don’t have water. Food is a major challenge for us here, we have complained but they said we should exercise patience. Every day, we go out to look for what to eat; some people now go to hunt for snails so they can sell in the markets. Others go and do different kinds of menial jobs. This place serves mainly as shelter for us; we are entirely on our own. We buy drinking water and use rain water when it falls,” they said.
Schoolchildren are also feeling the pains of the flood, as most of them who just resumed school after the COVID-19 lockdown were hit by the flood.
Daily Sun spotted an 11-year-old primary six pupil, Chinazaekpere Orichi, who organised her fellow schoolchildren at the Atani holding centre and was conducting a ‘school’ session for them in the camp as their teacher.
The little girl used an improvised chalkboard without textbooks or any teaching aid, while the other children listened and recited the lesson.
“I am in primary six but I’m not in school because of the flood. Normally, I teach my friends because nobody comes to teach us here. I teach them different subjects every day, like today, I am teaching them four-letter words,” she said.
Disaster foretold
However, the state government had in September warned the people living in the riverine areas to relocate to higher ground to avoid the impending flood.
Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, had alerted that communities in Anambra West, Anambra East, Onitsha South, Onitsha North, Ogbaru, Ihiala, Ayamelum and Awka North LGAs would be affected by the flood.
“Following reports by the Nigerian Hydrological Services that communities and states on the banks of the River Niger and River Benue will be affected by sustained heavy rains expected in the month of September in West African countries through which the River Niger runs its course, the Anambra State government hereby advises people in flood-prone communities to start getting ready to vacate these places and move to safer areas.
“As it has done in recent years, the Anambra State Government is providing holding centres where the affected people will stay until the floods recede. The Anambra State Emergency Management Agency has been given a list of the designated centres. These centres will be provided with clean water, mattresses, bedsheets, blankets, mosquito nets, buckets and all necessary sanitary facilities.
“They will also be given drugs and medical personnel like doctors, nurses and pharmacists will be available to attend to them promptly. Water ambulances will, in addition, be made available. Security agents drawn from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and Anambra State Vigilante Group will ensure excellent security throughout the clock.
“All Anambrans are enjoined to rise to this challenge like members of one united family. Civil society organisations are once again called upon to demonstrate their well-known solidarity with the human family. Philanthropists in our midst who have always shown milk of human kindness in emergencies like this one are encouraged to play their brother’s keeper,” he had stated.
Adinuba had urged the chairmen of the transition committees of the concerned LGAs to get in touch with the SEMA for briefing on the implementation of the measures to mitigate the impact of the heavy floods in the state.
The NEMA and SEMA had equally warned communities and residents of Anambra in flood plains and lowlands near the River Niger and its tributaries of the impending disaster and urged them to relocate.
South-East Zone coordinator of NEMA, Mr. Fred Anusim, the NIHSA and NIMET had predicted torrential rains in 28 states of the country.
Following the disturbing growing level of water in the River Niger, Anusim warned: “Some communities in the South-East have started feeling the impact of the increasing water and gradual flooding, especially those in Anambra State.
“So, we are advising these communities, particularly those within natural flood plains and low lands and those communities close to River Niger and its tributaries, to relocate to safe highlands.
“They should, please, evacuate while they can salvage some of their belongings and even crops they had planted in order to reduce damage and avoidable destruction. This is the call and warning we are issuing at this moment as a proactive disaster management agency.”
He explained that, before now, NEMA had met and sensitised various SEMAs in the zone to provide safe highlands that people could relocate to temporarily; assuring them that NEMA would do the needful by supplying relief materials to the people in their various IDP camps in the states.
“The IDPs will return to their homes after the rains and flood season is over to continue their daily human and business endeavours.
“The Federal Government, through NEMA, wants to ensure that there are minimal human and property losses this year, as it is expected that all obey the expert advice from NIHSA and NIMET,” he added.
Despite the warnings, most of the communities did not heed the call for precautionary measures by government and agencies and are today suffering the pangs of the flood.
Unfortunately too, government agencies like NEMA, which had promised to provide the communities with relief materials, were actually caught napping, going by the cries of neglect and abandonment emanating from the displaced persons’ camps, where food, drugs and sanitation have been in acute shortage.