Expdonaloaded News; Rain of ruin in Anambra

It was a Monday morning and a gloomy day across the South-East states as the heavens opened up. But in Anambra State, the downpour was unprecedented.When the rain subsided on that fateful July 27, flood had wreaked havoc in Anambra, sacking some residents in the capital city of Awka, as well as the commercial nerve centre, Onitsha.Though flooding was not new in the state which is erosion-prone and has large erosion sites like the one at Nanka; the flooding of that day had remained unparalleled.


Aside the heavy flooding, it was strange that the water  brought fishes to the roads.
At the Nibo axis of the Awka Ring Road, which was flooded, people were catching fishes and at Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of the state, people threw net along the recently rehabilitated old Enugu-Onitsha road to catch fishes.
While the fishes seen at the Ring Road were said to have came from the flooding of Obibia River that of Agbo-Ire village, Ogidi, according to residents, came from a borrow-pit dug by the construction company that worked on the Enugu-Onitsha road.
Anthony Obidike (a.k.a. Ojinaka) who narrated what happened to Oriental News, said that “during Governor Peter Obi’s tenure, the construction company that rehabilitated this road dug a borrow-pit here two years ago and when flooding occurred a pit was dug to channel the water. It happened that serious flooding that took place then affected a fish pond and carried some fishes to the pit’.
Similarly, facilities and fish worth millions of naira were destroyed at Abube-Nando as flood associated with the ferocious rain which started by 7:00a.m and lasted  to mid-day emptied into the fish pond belonging to Engr. Chris Chukwuemeka.
Chukwuemeka told newsmen that in addition to the loss of his fish, he lost feeds worth over N1.5 million, bringing the total loss he incurred in the farms located between Oyi River and Anambra East Local Government Area to about N7.5 million.
He said: “I started breeding the fish on 12th March, 2015, and 20,000 pieces were due for maturity by 12th August, before the flood menace.”post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com...
But beyond the fun of catching fishes on the road, the Anambra flood caused a lot of damage, including the submerging of houses with many now made homeless and destroying farmlands.
Speaking to Oriental News at the flood spot at Awka Ring Road, the General Manager, Orient Daily, the company whose truck was carried away by flood, Ogbuehi B.N. Okonkwo, said: “Our truck fell into the river there, the driver and the people helping him about four of them were trapped there but they have been rescued and three of them rushed to the hospital because they caught cold.”
An eyewitness, Ezenwa Afamefuna, who hails from Awka said he was heading for Nibo from Awka through the Ring Road about 12:00 noon and on getting to the spot flood “covered the road and we parked and were watching, trying to know where the flood came from. As we were there a truck driver stopped and parked and it was not up to 10 minutes he parked that the flood came forcefully and carried his vehicle and threw it into the ditch there were the river flows.”
Also speaking, Mr Okeke Ikechukwu who hails from Nibo said: “Obibia River used to overflow but it has never overflowed to this level before. It is  usual occurrence during rainy season, but it has never been to this magnitude. It is the same river that is between Governor’s Lodge and Nibo town.”
At 3-3 area Onitsha, the flood eroded the foot of the bridge thereby obstructing traffic while at Udoka Estate Awka, couples were rescued ‎after the collapse of the wall of their building, while at Ngozika Estate another bungalow was submerged.
At Agu-Awka area of the state capital, no fewer than 10 buildings and an electricity transformer were submerged just as the flood destroyed property worth millions of naira, including academic certificates of residents whose apartments were flooded.
While counting their loss, the residents who said they have been experiencing the same ordeal during rainy seasons for the past five years even before the 2012 flooding, expressed fear that it might be worse this year when the rains set in fully.
A resident of Nwakpadolu Estate in Agu-Awka, Mrs Jacinta Walters, said: “My television, mattresses, certificates and children’s academic files are all destroyed now, my house was filled with water up to window level, and you can see my children bailing water out of the house.
“The neighbours here are not around, but we have to break the door to save their property, their kitchen and toilets were already under the water.”
She, however, blamed the flooding in the area on the bad drainage work done during the construction .
Also lamenting, a landlord in the area, Chief Joseph Nwakpadolu, said: “The situation here is always bad during the rainy season, our farmland has been submerged, buildings are endangered and lives are not safe. The flooding from the channel rushes into the estate because the culvert there cannot carry the water through, the transformer serving us is working but you can see it is under the water.
“We are appealing to the government to de-silt the area because the level is rising by the day, we cannot do these ourselves and now that the rains are here, we pray there will not be outbreak of epidemic, like what happened in 2012 in the state.”
given the magnitude of the flood, Governor Willie Obiano called off the State Executive Council meeting he was presiding and defied the torrential rain across the state to inspect the havoc wreaked by the flood.
He warned the people of the state to stop building on waterways and blocking of drainages as government would not hesitate to demolish all the buildings blocking drains in the state so as to save lives.
“We have cautioned our people to observe basic rules and guidelines when embarking on the construction of their buildings. We can see that the rain are here and is causing havoc here and there. People should desist from dumping refuse and blocking drains because it contributes to what we are witnessing. Anyone caught in the act will contend with the relevant laws and where found guilty will be punished,” the governor assured.