July 24, (THEWILL) – A 21-year-old pregnant woman, Mrs Ozoemena Ugbaga, has been confirmed dead, while three other people are currently missing, following a flood disaster that ravaged the Inyimagu and Ekpa-Omaka communities in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
Confirming the incident, Commissioner for Human Capital Development, Mrs Ann Aligwe, said that apart from the deceased, who is a mother of three, and the missing persons, several others also sustained various degrees of injuries while trying to escape from the flood.
Mrs Aligwe said that the state witnessed a heavy downpour between July 18 and 20, which affected various communities in the state.
The Commissioner mentioned the affected communities to include Unagoke, Mgbo-Mgbaja and Onuebia in the Onuebonyi axis of the Izzi Local Government Area, as well as Igbudu and Ekpa-Omaka Communities in the Ikwo local government area of the State.
“On the 18th and 19th, we witnessed several flooded areas in Abakaliki. We visited the areas and discussed with the victims. On the 20th, we witnessed another heavy downpour that lasted for several hours.
“All the axis of Onuebonyi, Unagoke, Mgbo-Mgbaja and Onuebi. We went to all the areas to discuss and evacuated all the victims in the area.
“When we thought that the flood had subsided, we had a terrible report that there was a severe flood in Igbudu and Ekpa-Omaka in Ikwo local government. A pregnant woman died in the flood disaster. We have three others missing.
“We have visited the area. We had to use a boat to access other Communities in the area”, the Commissioner said.
She noted that apart from the farmlands that were destroyed, properties were also destroyed by the flood.
“Most of the rice, yam and cassava farms were all destroyed. Unfortunately, we lost a life. We have been urging people living around the waterways to relocate to other areas or the IDP camps”, she added.
The Commissioner expressed regrets that despite the sensitisation and enlightenment programmes by the state government for people to relocate, the people did not adhere to the warnings.
“We never knew we would have such a sad story,” she lamented.
Mrs Aligwe said that on hearing the ugly incident, Governor Francis Nwifuru immediately dispatched a rescue team to the area to evacuate all the victims who have now been safely relocated to a safer area.
She further noted that the Governor has also mandated the Ministry to communicate the incident to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), noting the level of devastation for possible distribution of relief materials to the affected victims.
Aligwe also disclosed that her ministry has commenced distribution of relief materials to the affected persons, assuring that the state government will not relent in assisting the victims.
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
