Tina Amanda
Some residents of Bille kingdom in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State have decried the level of flooding in the Community which they say has paralyzed economic and social activities for over a month.
The residents who expressed their worries on the pathetic situation to our reporter Tina Amanda said the flooding has brought untold hardship to people of Bille, as those residing around the sand-filled areas have been forced to evacuate their homes.
According to them, the present flooding is the worst on the people of the community, as schools, and the health centre has been permanently shut down while properties worth millions have been destroyed by the flood.
They lamented further that Bille is one of the major oil-producing Community with two oil flow stations but they are yet to benefit and feel the federal government’s presence in Bille.
They expressed their concerns too on the flood which has covered the control box and cables in the Generator plant that supplies electricity to Bille kingdom, stressing that such could cause the entire people of Bille to be electrocuted.
The further called on the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA to come to Bille kingdom and give relief materials to the affected people who have been displaced due to the flood.
They, however, called on Federal, State and Local government to intervene in the matter urgently, while appealing for shore protection and land reclamation in Bille as it is done in Bonny Island, Abonema and Opobo, in order to stop the annual flooding disaster.
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On September 26, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, warned 18 local government areas in the state to take proactive steps to prepare for the upcoming flood in by creating designated Internally Displaced Persons, IDP camps.
NEMA’s forecast shows that flooding will sack the following LGs: Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Oyigbo, Tai. , Abua /Odual, Degema, Akuku-Toru, Port Harcourt City, Obio-Akpor, Gokana, Ahoada-West, Ahoada-East, Andoni, Asari-Toru, Bonny, Ogu Bolo, Okrika, Opobo-Nkoro and Etche.
The zonal director of NEMA, Walson Brandon, revealed that Nigeria Hydrological Services and Nigeria Meteorological Agency, NIMET singled out 11 local government area in Rivers state that will suffer severe flooding, while seven of them would suffer mild flooding and urge residents to prepare ahead of time.
Brandon said those who live in and around the low-level areas should begin to gather their valuables to safeguard them, and also identify the designated IDP camp for ease of movement as NEMA was making adequate arrangement to assist flood disaster-prone areas.
Walson Brandon also advised the Rivers State Government to set up Emergency Management procedures to mitigate the impeding flooding as local and state government are the first respondents in Emergency cases.
He said: “emergencies are local for example when there’s a plane crash, it happens at a place, so we expect the local residents around that area to assist in basic First aid and also respond adequately. Since disasters happen at a particular place, we expect the people to take action concerning their environment.
“Federal Government is a big entity that covers the 36 states and capital, in issues of emergency the first respondent is Local government, by extension the state as second before Federal government, so there’s a need for the state government to have robust state emergency team to mitigate the coming flooding.
“Our procedures are, if there’s an emergency, we move to the area and assess the situation and then make a recommendation to our headquarters for action, pending the response from the Headquarters we assist victims with basic first aid and emergency services. so the state is expected to act first.”
It would be recalled that during heavy rainy seasons the four local government areas of Orashi region that are linked to the tributaries of Orashi River were usually flooded causing extensive damages.
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