A major flooding has rendered no fewer than 1,000 persons homeless in four communities in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The Transition Committee Chairman of the council, Mr Arinze Awogu, confirmed the incident to newsmen in Awka, the state capital, on Monday, September 14, 2020.
Awogu also said that the flood submerged many farmlands in the area.
He said that the displaced families had relocated upland, due to the steady rise in the water level.
He said that the victims had yet to go into the Displaced Persons Holding Camp but taking refuge in the homes of their relatives.
He said that the crops had either been washed away or got rotten in the affected farmlands.
The council boss advised the victims to urgently move into the camps rather than wait until the disaster would get worse.
He said: “Ogbaru is gradually but steadily going under water, our farms have been submerged, especially the root crops.
“At least 1,000 persons were displaced from their homes and some victims decided to join their relatives upland, refusing to go to the holding camps.
“We are afraid that by next week, the situation would get worse. You know we are riverine and our occupation is agriculture.”
Awogu said that streams in the area, which emptied into River Niger, had started flowing backwards and had turned white in colour.
He described the situation as “a clear indication that the river level had risen and flowing into the communities”.
According to him, Atani, Akili-Ozizor, Odekpe, Ohita commutites have all been submerged by flood.
Awogu said that Community Secondary School, Odekpe, local government secretariat, Atani and St. James Anglican Church, Iyiowa, had been designated as holding camps.
The local government, which comprises 16 communities, is located on the bank of the River Niger, which makes it prone to flooding.
During the 2018 flooding, 12 persons reportedly got drowned, while property and farmlands worth millions of naira were destroyed in the area.
By Chimezie Anaso
