Attah Ede Makurdi
Water released from the Ladgo dam in far away Cameroon has flooded the River Benue and submerged many houses and public institutions in Makurdi, the state capital.
The Network gathered that not less than 4000 households have been sacked by the raging flood.
The premises of Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, the state-owned transportation company, Benue Links and the Federal Urban Mass Transit Motorpark are currently taken over by water.
The flood water which is rising by the day has made the people to relocate to safer areas as more houses located about three kilometres from the river bank go under water.
When our correspondent visited the affected areas in the Nigeria Air Force Base Makurdi, Kilometre Five, Kucha Utebe community, Wurukum rice mill and timber market as well as abattoir, Gyado Villa community and ricemill area of Wadata, the water had submerged most of the buildings on those axis up to roof level.
At the BSUTH the flood has already pulled down part of its perimeter fence.
At the Benue Links complex, and Wurukum Mass Transit Park, the flood has taken over the premises with the power house of BSUTH while the residential quaters at the brink of going under water.
Some of the victims who could not hide their pain and anger lamented the failure of the Federal Government to have River Benue dredged several years after the promise was made.
The Secretary of the Federal Assisted Mass Transit Drivers Association, Agagbe Teryila lamented the situation, saying they had been kept out of business activity at the park.
“We are completely disappointed in the Federal Government. We had a similar flood in 2012 and the government ought to have dredged this river to check a reoccurrence but they did not, knowing that the Cameroonian authorities can at anytime release water from their dam, but they failed to do that.
“See how we are all suffering, our park has been submerged and we have been forced to move our vehicles out to the road. All the business people operating in the park to feed their families have been dislodged by the water and we are all helpless. Please the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency dredge River Benue to save us this trauma.”
On his part, a resident of Kucha Utebe, Mr. Terna Boki said that his house is completely under, calling on public spirited individuals to come their aid as the water had forced his family out of their home.
“It is not a good experience because this is my personal house and it is difficult to move everything in the three bedroom house to somebody’s house. We don’t even know where to sleep. The Federal Government should dredge the river in order to address this challenge.”
Again, Mrs. Ruth Agbo noted that when the water level of the river started rising about two weeks ago they thought it was the normal situation they usually witness every rainy season but the water level refused to drop.
” I had to move out of my house and moved some of my belongings into the ceiling of the house and traveled. But I came back only to discover that the entire placed has been taken over by water and my residence is completely under water. I have lost all my very important properties, she said”
Also, a mother of two, Mr. Cecilia Eje who could not hold back tears said, “I don’t even know where to go with my children. When it started we ran to the house of our family friend, now their house has also gone under water and we don’t even know what to do.
She appealed to Federal government to dredge the River Benue, stressing that it was unfortunate that Cameroon could release water and people in Nigeria would begin to suffer it .
Reacting, the Benue state Commissioner for Water Resources and Environment, Dr. Godwin Oyiwona said “the water level is increasing because of the increase in water level from the dam in Cameroon. We are encouraging people to leave the coastal areas to other safer areas.
“We are handling the area of rise in water level which is 11.1 meter. In 2012 when there was massive flooding in Benue State it was 12m. So, it is about .9m to get to that, so we are warning people to move away from the coastal line to higher grounds.