Residents worry as heavy rains threaten lives, property in Benue

The heavy downpour on Tuesday night left many parts of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, flooded with residents lamenting their losses.

A NAN correspondent who visited some affected parts of the town on Wednesday, reports that residents were tidying up after the flood washed away many household items.

NAN also reports that the flood submerged some buildings while others were partially affected by the water which overflowed the banks of River Benue.

The investigations showed that some of the worst affected areas were Demekpe, Wadata Rice Mill Highlevel, Idye and Nyiman.

The flood, which submerged several houses in the affected areas, also swept away property belonging to many families.

NAN observed that the flood was caused by blocked drains and in most of the areas visited, the devastation was occasioned by either blocked drains or poor water channels.

A victim of the flood, Mr Joseph Igoche, said the flood took them by surprise.

“We were actually not prepared for this; last year, we were not affected, so, we never knew it would be our turn now.”

Ruth Paul, a resident of Wurukum, appealed to environmental authorities to prevail on landlords to provide for proper waste disposal and to construct water channels.

She complained that they were affected by the flood because of the blocked drains following the construction of new houses by landlords.

Mr Solomon Yua, a student who lives at Nyiman, said that the rain had already caused a lot of harm to him.

He appealed to residents to imbibe the habit of proper waste disposal, to avoid having blocked drains.

NAN recalls that a few weeks back, a permanent secretary in the state Ministry for Water Resources and Environment, Mr Nathaniel Alaaga, had assured the people of ongoing efforts to prevent possible flooding.