Rampaging floods in Adamawa and Benue states have claimed 58 victims, injured 74 and displaced 248,665 persons.
The casualty level and other figures were released by the emergency agencies of the federal government and the two states.
In the Adamawa disaster, 35 were killed while 131,581 persons were displaced in the eight affected local government areas of the state.
The executive secretary of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), Dr Suleiman Aminu Muhammad Aminu, disclosed this to LEADERSHIP in Yola, the state capital yesterday.
Aminu said the flooding was compounded by the release of water from Dadin Kowa Dam in Gombe State and Lagdo Dam in Cameroon respectively, causing untold hardship on the people of the state.
He said the flood in Numan, Shelleng, Guyuk, Demsa and Lamurde local governments, was caused by release of water from Dadin Kowa Dam in Gombe State that submerged houses and farmlands.
In Madagali local government area, which recorded 12 deaths, heavy downpour caused the flood. It was the same story in Girei and Fofure local government areas, although the situation was worsened by release of water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.
At least 11 temporary camps have been erected by the state government to contain the emergency situation.
Already, the state government has summoned stakeholders’ meeting with the relevant ministries departments and agencies (MDAs) and the United Nations (UN) partners to mitigate the health and other challenges faced by the displaced persons.
Meanwhile, the senator representing Adamawa Southern senatorial district, Binos Dauda Yaroe, has promised to sponsor a bill seeking for the dredging of the River Benue to address the annual flooding in the zone. Yaroe said his people are tired of asking for relief materials and having their farm produce consumed by heavy flooding annually.
He said in tabling the bill, he would seek for the dredging of the River Benue in Adamawa, the building of buffet dams to conserve excess volumes of water which could be used for irrigation and dry season farming and empower locals.
The lawmaker said he would also raise a motion that would compel relevant bodies like National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately assess the damage caused by the flood.
In the Benue incident 23 died, 74 were injured and several farms destroyed in four of the 11 local government areas affected by the flood.
The director-general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Mustapha Habib, said the agency had provided water treatment trucks to nib in the bud the outbreak of water borne diseases that will be associated with the contaminated water.
The executive secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Emmanuel Shior who disclosed this during the flag off of the distribution of food to displaced victims explained that 74 persons also sustained varying degrees of injuries from snake bites and other things associated with the flood.
He said, “So far, 116,084 persons affected by the flood are displaced. 14,040 farms are also submerged with 12,856 households affected.”
He lamented a situation where some citizens engage in excavation of sand and other unhealthy activities at the river bank in the name of molding blocks adding that as of Monday, the water has reached dangerous level.
On accommodation, the ES said, “For now we are taking care of the displaced persons at the community level, because the option we had was the International Market but on reaching there the management raised concerns that most of the stores have been allocated to people already, there is also no security in the market and even the empty stores in the market are without doors.”
According to the NEMA boss, who was represented by the principal, Search and Rescue Officer, Digha John “the water treatment trucks are being deployed to states worse hit by flood.”
