Flood submerges houses, farmlands in Nasarawa communities

… As Nasarawa govt engages village chiefs and youth groups to move prone communities to uplands.

By Abel Daniel, Lafia

Two communities in the state have been submerged with flood as houses and farmlands are destroyed.

Communities affected are Loko, bordering River Benue in the Nasarawa local government area, and Bassa in Kokona local government.

The Executive Secretary of the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA), barrister Ben Akwash, made this known in an interview with our reporter on Monday in Lafia.

Barrister Akwash disclosed that though the extent of the damage is yet to be ascertained, the flood swept the entire farms with nothing to recover.

He regretted that the incident at the Bassa community was not among the local government predictions by NIMET.

Akwash, however, stated that aggressive sensitisation is currently ongoing across all the flood-prone communities to ensure people are moved upland before the impending flood happens.

“We are working hand in hand with community leaders, local chiefs and youth groups to talk to some locals who remain adamant despite repeated warnings and appeal to move to uplands ahead of the flood.

“We have held several sensitisation meetings with all the communities prone to flooding and agreed with village heads and traditional rulers to persuade the locals who may want to see the flood coming before they move to kindly plead with them because we have provided safe havens in all the flood-prone communities in the event of a flood.

Akwash also hinted that Governor Abdullahi Sule, because of his passion and concern for those likely to be affected, procured adequate relief materials in stock against any eventuality.

He called on flood-prone communities to take proactive actions in line with warnings by the federal government by moving to uplands now that the rainfall is on the increase.

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