GET READY TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUNDS— SEMA TELLS ANAMBRA COMMUNITIES
Reporter : UCHE NDEKE
People living on the river banks in Anambra State are enjoined to start getting set to relocate to higher grounds because of impending flood. The Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Chief Paul Odenigbo, made the call during a sensitization tour to some flood prone local government areas of the state.
The Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) and Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had earlier this year (2020) forecasted that twenty eight states across the country, including Anambra, would experience flood incidents.
While some states had already witnessed flood disaster with some resulting in deaths, people living in the coastal areas in Anambra State are yet to experience heavy rainfall as most of them cry that their crops were drying.
However, according to the Executive Secretary of SEMA, Chief Paul Odenigbo, there was the need for them to be getting ready in case of any eventuality. Chief Odenigbo, who was represented by a Director in the agency, Mr. Chukwudi Onyekwu, called on the people to desist from acts that would lead to blocking of water channels, including building on flood ways.
He advised farmers to consider early harvesting of their farm produce and gather some of their important items, including documents, in order to move to holding camps already prepared by the government. In an interview, the Co-ordinator Local Emergency Management Committee, Mr. Nnamdi Esimia, said they had been moving to all the rural villages and communities with the aim of ensuring that any case of emergency was attended to, by promptly reporting to state and federal agencies for rescue.
Some of the residents, including Mr. Frances Ogbu and Mrs. Onyeka Ngene ,however appealed to both the federal and state governments to always provide inputs to farmers early enough to enable them plant and harvest before the flooding period.
The SEMA officials alongside the Local Emergency Management Committee moved round some market squares in Anambra East, Ayamelum and Anambra West Local Government Areas sharing fliers and sensitizing the people to the need for them to get ready to relocate to higher grounds once they were alerted.
Radio Nigeria gathered that sixteen local government areas in Anambra State were expected to experience flooding as predicted by Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency, NIHSA.