Flooding: Anambra to open camps for IDPs in 10 LGAs

With the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon and continuous rainfall, the Anambra State government says it will open camps within the next 48 hours to accommodate people who have been displaced by the flood.

Governor Charles Soludo who spoke through his deputy, Dr Gilbert Ibezim, during a visit to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Abuja yesterday, said 10 out of 21 local government areas in the state had been affected by flood.

He said the IDP camps used previously by the states could not be used anymore as they had been affected by the flood disaster this time around.

He said the flood that started from just three local governments kept increasing and had compounded erosion disasters bedeviling the state.

He said the camps would be opened for displaced people to stay in pending when the flood would subside and they could return to their homes.

While thanking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for approving interventions delivered by NEMA to flood victims in the state, Ibezim appealed that the agency should include consumables among other items.

He called for the building of dams and the dredging of River Niger and River Benue to avert flood disasters in the future.

On his part, the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, said most disasters could be averted or mitigated with simple deliberate actions such as “avoiding the dumping of refuse on waterways and drainage in our cities can reduce urban flooding drastically.” 

Ahmed said the message of disaster risk management must be taken to the grassroots to enable people in local communities to become first responders that save lives pending when support arrives from state capitals or Abuja.