Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
Ogbogbo-Ekebeligwe Ishieke community of Ebonyi Local Government Area has been reportedly flooded following a heavy downpour in the area.
The flood is said to have submerged the Ekebeligwe Bridge even as farm crops worth millions of Naira have been destroyed.
The flooding, it was learned, followed over one week of heavy rainfall in the area.
Victims lamented the loss of all their farm crops such as yams, cassava, corn, rice, among others.
They lamented that with the flooding that their investments in the farms had been lost and they would have to start all over again when the flood subsides.
Spokesperson of the farmers, Mr. Mgbada Chukwu, spoke when the Executive Secretary of Ebonyi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr. Clement Ovuoba visited the community to ascertain the level of damage caused by the flood.
Chukwu said there has been heavy downpour in the State in the last one week, causing destruction on all the community’s farmlands.
He said: “It has washed away all the crops we planted for the planting season. We in Ogbogbo-Ekebeligwe are predominantly farmers and we cultivate and plant our crops early to enable us engage in all-season farming but regrettably, flood has destroyed everything.
“After the rainfall, we observed the flooding of the farmland and went to observe the level of effect but to our surprise, all the yams, cassava, corn, rice, melon and others crops planted had all been washed away by the flood.
“The flood didn’t just affected our farm crops, it almost destroyed the Ogbogbo-Ekebeligwe Bridge as the bridge was constructed with wood.
“We are calling on government to assist us with relief materials such as agro-farm inputs, farm chemicals and seeds to enable us start all over again. We won’t relent because we don’t have any other source of livelihood except farming. We also appeal to the State Government to replace the bridge with a reinforced concrete instead of wood,” he pleaded.
Chukwu stressed that the wooden bridge poses a lot of danger to the people once it rains heavily as it restrains access to farmlands because the bridge would be submerged.
“If you are in the farm and it starts raining, you have to start running home immediately to avoid being trapped in the farm because the bridge may be submerged by flood,” he added.
The Executive Secretary of the (SEMA), Mr. Ovuoba, expressed worry over the high level of flooding in the community.
He promised the people of the state government’s determination to ensure that flood victims are adequately compensated.
“We are here to assess the level of destruction caused by the flood. I must tell you, the flood really destroyed their farmlands and poses a threat to food sufficiency that the State and Federal Government are working hard to achieve.
“We are going to take our report back to the Federal and State Government, and I want to assure them that both the State Government and the National Emergency Management Agency will come to their aid,” Ovuoba said.
