Over 31, 000 households hit by floods in Yobe
By Njadvara MUSA, Damaturu
The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said that flood has hit over 31, 000 households with the displacement of 6,592 residents in various communities.
The 255 flooded communities are sited along the Rivers Kumadugu-Gana and Yobe banks and flood plains in the state.
Unveiling the destroyed houses and farmlands, yesterday (Wednesday), at a media briefing in Damaturu, SEMA’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Goje, disclosed: “The heavy downpours of rain between May and September, 2022 resulted to the flooding of 255 communities across the state.”
According to him, the two months rainfall led to the deaths of five children in Gashua, massive displacement of people and the destruction of houses, food items and 645 livestock worth millions of naira.
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He said that the magnitude of the flood disaster is high and needs for multi-sectorial and interagency with robust resource mobilisation at the State and council levels.
“These are to cushion hardships the flood victims are undergoing,” he said.
He added that the responses are to ensure that in times of such flooding, appropriate institutional processes and procedures, coordination and resources are in place.
He noted that the mitigations against flooding are put in place to support the affected households and communities.
He listed some of the affected communities to include Gashua, Jakusko, Geidam, Jumbam, Girgir, Dapchi, Mutai, Katarko and Bara in Gulani Council.
“The worse hit communities are Jakusko, Gashua, Jumbam and Mutai,” he noted, stating that the magnitude of flood is the worst in recent times in Yobe state.
On the sources of flood waters, he said: “The State has unfortunately become the last destination of heavy floods from various dams and rivers in Nigeria, including the Lagdo dam in Cameroon.”
He said that the water that flows from dams in Kano state through Hadejia settles in the Nguru wetlands, Bade and Jakusko communities.
Continued: “While the water that flows from the Jos Plateau to Bauchi to Kafin Zaki, Birnin Kudu and Kiyawa, Jama‘are, Gamawa, Nangere finally settles in Jakusko community in Yobe state.
Besides, he added that the flow of water from Gombe, Dadinkowa, Nafada in Gombe state; also settles in Fika, Fune and Jakusko farming and herding communities.
He said that there is another flow of flood water from Lake Chad through Katarko, Mutai and Fune riverine to the Jakusko community that lost over a thousand-hectare farmlands.
“All the river channels are feeders of Lake Chad in Borno state,” he said, warning that the implication is associated with higher flood risks in Jakusko, Gashua, Geidam, Dapchi communities along the two rivers in the state.
