Flood: Akwa Ibom Residents Count Losses As Road Collapses

Four days of torrential downpours in parts of Akwa Ibom State have dealt devastating blows to communities in Uyo, the state capital, the adjoining Itu, Ibesikpo Asutan, Abak, and other Council Areas, especially Eket, where the pressure of floodwaters has forced a strategic road in the Idua community to cave in.

Checks by LEADERSHIP revealed the agony of residents hard-hit by the disaster, who could barely salvage their household property, lamenting their loss, which they estimated at millions of naira.

Although no life was lost, the stranded local residents of Idua and other neighbouring communities, cut off by the collapsed road, lamented that the ceaseless downpours, accompanied by a flash flood, gave them no time to salvage their personal belongings after rescuing the children to safety.

“We were practically swimming to take the children to safer locations,” Arit Asuquo, one of the victims, saidt, urging government at all levels to assist them.

Another victim, Aniekan Eshiet, called for urgent intervention to fix the collapsed road, saying that motorists, pedestrians, motorcyclists and other road users were having a hectic time navigating the adjoining road to bypass the deep gully.

Aniema Effiong, a petty trader, said socioeconomic activities had been in a lull around the affected areas, as traders and farmers could not access major markets to sell their wares and farm produce due to the collapsed road.

To assuage the challenges currently faced by affected rural communities, Chief Akpan Essang, a community leader, appealed to Governor Umo Eno and other agencies for urgent intervention to stem the flood scourge.

“We are in deep distress because our major means of livelihood – farming and petty trading have been truncated by the disaster,” Etim Ekpe, a timber dealer, begged.

“We are in deep danger because the gully is still eating up and may swallow the entire community and its environs,” Ettebong Usua noted.

He, therefore, called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Ministry of Environment, the Akwa Ibom State Environmental and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), the Eket Council Chairman, Akan Tommey and the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, to be in the vanguard of coordinating the emergency response team for urgent remediation actions.