The Anambra State Government has warned people that the state this year will see excessive rainfall and flooding.
The warning was included in a state that Paul Nwosu, the state commissioner for information, distributed on Friday.
Nwosu identified the following high-risk locations in his list of precautions against the approaching natural disaster: Ogbaru, Ayamelum, Anambra East, Anambra West, Onisha North, Onitsha South, Awka North, Idemili South, Ekwusigo, and Ihiala LGA.
He said,” The 2023 seasonal rainfall prediction and annual flood outlook by Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) has shown that there will be high rainfall across the country and flood this year.
“The high flood risk areas in Anambra State that could be flood hit include Ogbaru, Ayamelum, Anambra East, Anambra west, Onisha North, Onitsha South, Awka North, Idemili South, Ekwusigo and Ihiala LGA
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“The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has issued the following flood mitigation measures:Make concrete plans for timely harvesting and evacuation of your farm produce and livestock to avoid losses. Do not wait until the flood comes to harvest.”
Anambra State was among the states in the country that battled massive flooding in 2022, as over 300 communities in six local government areas were underwater.
Flooding is a perennial problem in the state, but the 2022 devastation was described as the highest ever had since 2012.’
Apart from submerging of houses and farmlands in Anambra, critical infrastructure such as schools, healthcare centres, police stations, banks, and offices were not left out; a situation which forced the state government to shut down schools affected by the flood and at the same time forced members of the affected communities to flee into various Internally Displaced Persons camps across the state.
According to the record obtained from the State Emergency Management Agency on the affected communities in Anambra, Ogbaru had 286,000 displaced persons, Anambra West had 237,000, Anambra East 103,000, Awka North had 10,345 victims, while Anyamelum had 9,240 flood cases with 5,468 displaced persons.
According to an official from SEMA, Mr Chukwudi Onyejiofor, currently, over 700,000 persons are all camped at various internally displaced persons camps across the state, a figure, he said, would shoot up to one million in a few days as over 500 victims join the camps daily.
Story adapted from National Star
