Flood has rendered no fewer than 1,000 persons homeless in four communities in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, following recent increase in rainfall.
The Transition Committee Chairman of the council, Mr Arinze Awogu who confirmed the incident to Journalists in Akwa on Monday, said the flood submerged many farmlands in the area.
He said: “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.”
Awogu expressed fear that that by next week, the situation would get worse, saying, “We are riverine and our occupation is agriculture. Ogbaru is gradually but steadily going under water, our farms have been submerged, especially the root crops.”
He further said the crops had either been washed away or got rotten in the affected farmlands.
While noting that streams in the area, which emptied into River Niger had started flowing backwards and had turned white in colour, he said the situation is a clear indication that the river level had risen and flowing into the communities.
He advised the victims who are yet to go into the Displaced Persons Holding Camp to urgently move into the camps rather than wait until the disaster gets worse.
Awogu , also disclosed that other communities which includes, Atani, Akili-Ozizor, Odekpe, Ohita have all been submerged by flood while Community Secondary School, Odekpe, local government secretariat, Atani and St. James Anglican Church, Iyiowa, had been designated as holding camps.
NatureNews reports that Ogbaru local government is one of the 16 communities in the state that is at high risk of flooding. During the 2018 flooding, 10 persons were reportedly killed and 15 houses destroyed by flood.