At least 10 dead and many houses and properties destroyed as flood wreak havoc in Benue state

At least 10 persons have been reportedly swept away  and properties ,farmland ,houses destroyed in Guma Local Government Area of Benue state following days of heavy rains in the state.

So far the remains of one of the victims has been recovered & buried, nine others are still missing.

The Executive Secretary of the Benue state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Mr Boniface Ortese said " this time we are recording flooding in various Communities from streams located across the state . we never anticipated it,the disaster came as an ambush because we never expected it from the streams, the emphasis had always been on River Benue and we were at alert ,given the warning we received from various agencies. It is in dead a major disaster.

Ortese said his agency had already carried out an assessment of all the streams in the state & had embarked on aggressive enlightenment campaign in various communities on the prospect of flood disaster in the state.
"Our discovery is that our streams are rising faster than expected and this poses great dangers to our people hence the need to alert those residing very close to such streams to relocate to a safer areas.

Ortese stated that "the state government had already set aside Lands for construction of facilities for displaced persons near Ape Aku housing estate in outskirts of Makurdi and presidential committee on flooding and Rehabilitation are currently puting up a gigantic building at Agan.


Source: the Vanguard