Flood: Akwa Ibom govt warns residents from blocking water channels

By Bisola Adeyemo

Akwa Ibom residents have been advised to avoid dumping refuse into gutters to ensure the safety of their houses and property against flooding and windstorm disasters, as rains set in.

Commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals, Mr Charles Udoh, said this on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen on the government’s efforts at controlling flooding in the state during this rainy season in Uyo, the state capital.

He lamented that Uyo was still experiencing flooding despite the huge sums expended by successive administrations due to the attitudes of residents, who, he said, had turned drainage channels into refuse dumps, Environews gathered.

Udoh noted that most of the erosion and flood-prone areas in the metropolis were induced by activities of residents through building of houses on water channels.

“We are spending billions of naira to check flooding in the state, but the problem there is not rain or water; rather, it is man-made.

“Man turns drainage into his refuse dump; whereas water will always find its level. When you block drain through which water should flow, it will definitely create its own channel.

Udoh expressed worries that the economic and social lives of the people living and doing business within that avenue and its environment had been negatively impacted by the flooding.