By John Ugo
More than twelve communities mostly in Etsako Central Local Government Aea of Edo North Senatorial district have been submerged by flood.
The effect of the flood followed torrential rain in the last few days that resulted in the River Niger overflowing its banks.
It was learnt that many of the residents of the affected areas have fled their homes because the water level in most of the communities have gone above the window level of their houses.
Also, those who managed to move around do so in canoes.
Some of the residents say the current wave of flood disaster is the worst they have had since 2012 when they thought they had seen the worst.
Sadly, Churches, mosques, markets, schools have all been taken over by the flood.
Some of the communities mostly hit are Udaba-Ekphei, Anegbette, Ukpeko Orle, Ofukpo, Agbabu, Osomegbe, Udochi, Yelwa, Ake Island and Ifeku Island.
Agricultural produce such as rice, cassava, vegetables, potatoes, ground nuts and others have been swept away by the devastating floods.
Residents of the affected communities are therefore calling on the state, federal and local governments to come to their aid before lives are lost to the devastating effects of the flood.
An indigene of the Udaba, Mr Isaac Omoaka said “My village is completely submerged. Since I was born, I have never seen such a thing. This year’s flood is ten times that of 2012.
He said, “We have a prominent son who built schools, a hospital complete with a mortuary, laboratory, x-ray and several amenities all of them now are under the water.”
The State Commissioner for Special Duties, Osasere Evboumwan when contacted on Sunday said “We were in Etsako Central last Friday; myself, NEMA, SEMA, the Head of Local Government Administration, WHO and others.”
“We are sending our report now to see how we can provide relief for them. Their farms have been taken away by water, every year this flood comes and NEMA said the only solution to this is to dredge River Niger otherwise it will continue to occur.
“For the immediate solution, we are going to be supplying food for them, the IDP centre in Ogomeri is dry and there are facilities there but the people are reluctant to come there. We are preparing the IDP for them, there are mattresses there, there is a generator, fridge is there, the kitchen is there then we will beef up the medical centre.”