Between July to September, flood destroyed houses and displaced people in 212 communities in Cross River State.

The Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said on Wednesday that flood destroyed 4,370 houses and displaced over 51,000 people in 212 communities in the state.

The Director-General of SEMA, Mr. Princewill Ayim, disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Calabar, the state capital.

Ayim said the incident occurred between July and September, adding that measures were taken to provide succour for the victims.

According to him, some of the victims abandoned their homes for safety, as the incident had brought untold hardship on them.

He listed some of the affected local government areas to include Boki, Etung, Biase, Calabar South, Calabar Municipal and Ogoja among others.

He said some agencies intervened by providing relief materials to the affected victims across the state to ameliorate their plight.

The SEMA chief commended the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for donating relief materials to the victims on different occasions.

He also said 19 cases of fire outbreaks were recorded in the state during the period under review, adding that property worth millions of Naira were destroyed in the incident.

He said: “Between July to September, a flood destroyed 4,370 houses and displaced over 51,000 people in 212 communities in Cross River. Some of the victims built their houses along the water channel and so they could not escape the flooding.

“Others had poor drainage systems around their locality while some of them were dumping their refuse inside the drains, making it difficult for water to flow freely.

“We have carried out massive awareness campaigns to enlighten residents in the state to stop building along water channels and stop dumping their refuse inside the drains.” 

Source: (NAN)