No fewer than four communities in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State have been ravaged by flooding, displacing residents and destroying houses, household property, shops, goods, rice mills and farmlands worth millions of naira.
The affected communities are Mpu, Okpanku, Ndiabor and Oduma.
The flooding began expanding after torrential rainfall on Sept. 20 and worsened on Sept. 22 and 23 following further downpours, submerging parts of Afor Okpanku Market, the Ivo River Bridge and adjoining roads.
Residents were, as of the time of filing this report, evacuating their families and attempting to salvage their belongings to safer locations as heavy rainfall continued across the area.
The Councillor representing Mpu Ward, Mr Edwin Ogbuka, described the situation as “life-threatening”, saying several houses and farmlands had been affected.
Ogbuka called for urgent government intervention and attributed the flooding to the overflow of water from the abandoned Ivo River Dam project.
A community leader in Mpu, Mr Dele Chukwu, said six villages in the community had been affected, with displaced residents taking refuge at Amachalla Town School.
Chukwu appealed to the government and relevant emergency management agencies to urgently provide relief materials and other assistance to the victims.
In Okpanku, the community’s Youth Leader, Mr George Ahaefuna, described the flooding as unprecedented.
“Since I was born, I have never seen this kind of flood in my life. The flood has destroyed all we have laboured for in the farm this year,” Ahaefuna said.
He said the flood destroyed rice, cassava and yam farms worth millions of naira, and appealed to the Federal Government, Enugu State Government and Aninri Local Government Area to come to the victims’ aid.
At Afor Okpanku Market, a shop owner, Mrs Patricia Chukwu, said goods worth millions of naira had remained submerged in floodwater for two days.
“This development is devastating. This is the worst flood that has affected Okpanku in my generation,” she said.
Chukwu urged the government, organisations and public-spirited individuals to assist residents whose houses, goods and farmlands were destroyed by the disaster.
The Chairman of Aninri Local Government Area, Prince Ugochukwu Nwanjoku, also expressed concern over the flooding, saying some parts of the council area experience flooding twice a year due to the uncompleted Ivo River Dam Project.
Nwanjoku said stakeholders were planning a joint visit to the Ivo River Dam to assess the reservoir and explore possible repairs aimed at preventing further flooding.
“I felt sad the moment I heard about the incident. Most communities in Aninri have been submerged by flooding, such as Okpanku, Mpu, Uhuezeoke in Ndiabor and parts of Ezineshi in Oduma,” he said.
The council chairman said crops, houses and businesses had been destroyed, adding that authorities were assessing the situation to determine the extent of the damage.
