In the Imo State local government area of Ohaji/Egbema, floodwaters overran Abacheke, leaving thousands of people homeless.
This occurred less than six months after an explosion that occurred in an illegal mining plant resulted in the deaths of more than 100 local residents.
Additionally, the community’s farms, cash crops, marketplaces, schools, churches, markets, cultivated farmlands, fishing facilities, interconnecting access routes, and other sources of income were all inundated by the flood.
As the flood reached rooftops, affected residents evacuated their houses and possessions.
According to Mr. Ifeanyi Nnaji, Head of Operations at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who confirmed the news, the flood was caused by a surge in water levels along the Orashi and Oguta rivers, which are tributaries of the River Niger.
According to Nnaji, the assessment’s findings showed a massive flood that affected over three thousand people and covered roughly 15 settlements. While the majority have been entirely relocated, some are staying with relatives or in nearby settlements. Since the majority of the structures were completely drowned by the flood, schools, churches, markets, cultivated farmlands, fishing facilities, interconnecting access routes, and residential dwellings were all seriously damaged. Electricity and livestock have both been negatively impacted.
The recent severe rains and the overflow of the banks of the River Niger tributaries, according to HRH Eze Ikeji Ifeanyi Bright, the traditional ruler of the Abacheke community, were to blame for the flood.
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Even though it happens every year, he continued, the current flooding is the second of this size they will have seen since the floods of 2012. He pleaded with NEMA to step in and assist them immediately.
The NEMA team, led by Nweze Innocent, expressed sympathy for the losses suffered by the Eze and all of the impacted villages. They also urged the populace to evacuate to higher and safer land in order to be safe till the water began to recede.
He noted that since the assessment was likely to result in more water being used, the locals should harvest their remaining crops.
