By Emmanuel Samuel, Yola
Adamawa State Deputy Governor, Chief Crowther Seth has appealed to the Federal Government to immediately help in alleviating the plight of the people of the state, who suffered great losses as a result of a rainstorm on Thursday, which claimed the lives of seven people and leaving 20,000 houses submerged in Yola.
The Deputy Governor made the plea while visiting some of the affected communities Friday evening.
He said the losses were enormous as the state government needs the intervention of the Federal Government in taking succour to the affected residents and to solve the ecological defects that predispose the capital city to frequent flooding.
“Adamawa State Government cannot do it alone. We have the issue of IDPs. We have the issue of Boko Haram and of herdsmen and farmers. So, we cannot do it alone. We appeal to the Federal Government to come to our aid as soon as possible,” the deputy governor said.
Speaking further, Seth said that it was a repeat of the flooding, which caused havoc with human casualties, now put at seven.
The state Emergency Management Agency, ADSEMA had on Friday spoken of five children having drowned in parts of the city, but the Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Mohammed Suleiman, said in an update to our correspondent on Saturday that seven people had been ascertained to have died following the torrential rain and flood.
The ADSEMA executive secretary, who had on Friday pleaded for time to conclude inspection of affected communities, told The Point, “The authentic figure is seven, with lot of properties destroyed. By the time we finish our evaluation, I can say the losses will amount to a lot in financial term.”
He explained that in Kasuwa Buhu alone, several hundreds of bags of grains were destroyed by the flood.
He said that the losses were still being complied, and would be presented to the state government by the coming week.
Kasuwa Buhu, located in Jambutu, Yola North LGA, is a huge market place reputed for a thriving trade in grains.
Other communities affected by the Thursday flood in the Yola capital metropolis included Bachure, Kofare, Wurojabe, Damilu and Yolde Pate in Yola North and Yola South LGAs.
In each of the communities, some houses and business premises were either completely lost or items in them destroyed, including Wurojabe, where a man was said to have lost two children because his house collapsed and water rushed in freely.
Commenting on the incident, Yola North transition committee chairman, Adamu Ibrahim Wakili said the flood was the worst recorded in the last 15 years in the area.
He said Jambutu, Wurojabbe and Saminaka were the worst affected by the flood, describing the incident as “raining cats and dogs”
Wakili noted that he and the member representing Yola north, state constituency, Hamidu Lekki have gone round to access the damage caused by the flood, adding that they have communicated the development to the State Emergency Management Agency for assistance to the affected communities.
He said the massive flood was caused mostly by buildings on waterways and indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways.
Also commenting, member representing Yola North state constituency Hamidu Lekki, said he will present the issue before the House of Assembly for deliberations and solutions to the issue of flooding.
