Residents lament as flood takes over Kogi communities

Following a heavy downpour, flood has taken over several communities in Kogi state, sacking hundreds of people from their homes and farms.

Lokoja, the State capital and Confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue on Saturday night saw the rivers overflowing their banks.

Commissioner for Environment in the State, Victor Omofaiye who along with others inspected facilities at St Paul Primary School, Adankolo IDP Camp called for help from the Federal government, individuals and Non-Government Organizations, and NGOs.

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He said the flood was massive noting that the government was yet to ascertain the extent of damage or loss.

As of Tuesday, a government source revealed that about fifty rooms have been prepared in earmarked schools to house some 10,000 victims.

Camps are being opened for Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs to mitigate the effects of the disaster.

The most affected communities are in Lokoja, Bassa, Kotonkarffe, Ajaokuta, Ibaji, Ofu and Idah Local Government Areas.

Victims of the flood have been counting their losses.

Some victims were seen clutching their water-soaked bags and walking briskly in a drizzling rainfall on Tuesday. Apart from the torrential downpour of a fortnight, the waters are emissions from the overfilled Ladgo Water Reservoir in far away Cameroon.

The flood has taken over a portion of a major road in Kabawa and another in Ganaja village, two major interstate connections. Many travellers were forced to ply the pothole-ridden Zone 8 / Crusher Road to access or exit the ever-busy and equally threatened Lokoja /Abuja highway.

Motorists to or from the Eastern part of the country were forced to endure long agonising hours in Ganaja village. Scores of trailers have been stranded on both sides of the road, with the drivers enduring many nights of immobility.

The canoe paddlers are also believed to be benefitting dubiously from the woes of victims. This is how. They are said to raid movable properties which the victims abandon while fleeing from the waters

Yinusa Abu, a victim who hurriedly fled his house in the Adankolo area of Lokoja on Monday night claimed that his hanger, bed and other properties had been stolen, when he returned with the hope of packing them to safety the following day.

A distraught single mother, Kehinde who was waiting for a tricycle to move her remaining belongings said her concern was how she will survive. “I don’t even know what to do…” She said.