August 27, (THEWILL) — For Elizabeth Akpan, the heavy rainfall that swept through Eket on Saturday night was not just another rainy day. It was the moment she watched floodwater invade her home, swallow her household belongings and leave her with the painful task of counting what remained.
By Sunday morning, the housewife who lives on Mkpok Lane had little to salvage. Electronics, kitchen utensils and other household items had been submerged as water overtook virtually every part of her building.
“The flood has destroyed my property worth millions of naira”, Akpan lamented, appealing to emergency agencies to come to her aid.
Families across Eket share her experience as torrential rainfall turned streets into waterways, forced residents out of their homes and damaged buildings and businesses.
On Edem Udoh Street, Mfonobong Bassey said she and her children were awake from about 4 a.m., scooping water from their rooms, kitchen, toilet and bathroom.
The flood also reached Idua Road, where Paul Idongesit said a building collapsed and even damaged his late wife’s grave.
For businessman Promise Friday, the disaster translated directly into financial loss. More than 80 bags of POP materials and cement bought for a building project were destroyed by floodwater.
But Eket is only the latest chapter in Akwa Ibom’s increasingly familiar rainy-season story.
In July, Uyo suffered one of its most severe floods in recent years after intense rainfall submerged homes, churches, businesses and roads in several parts of the state capital.
Residents of Abak Road, Nkemba, Tabernacle Road, Oron Road, Ikot Ekpene Road, Ewet Housing Extension, Ukana Offot, Aka Itiam and other areas were forced to confront floodwaters inside their homes. Some residents spent hours trying to rescue belongings while others were left stranded.
The damage has not been limited to Uyo and Eket
Flooding has repeatedly affected communities across the state, including areas of Uyo, Eket, Abak, Ibeno, Itu and other vulnerable locations. In December 2024, a joint assessment by NEMA, SEMA, the Red Cross and local authorities identified 52 flood-affected locations across 12 LGAs, with 114,948 people affected and 46,310 displaced. Ten per cent of the houses assessed were completely destroyed.
In June 2024, NEMA documented one death and several injuries following flooding in six communities in Uyo Local Government Area, with buildings, household items, businesses and livelihoods affected.
In July 2025, retired Permanent Secretary and pioneer chairman of Ewet Housing Extension, Anselm Thomas Etuk, was reportedly swept away by floodwaters in Uyo.
And in 2020, three children of police officers drowned in an open pit filled with floodwater at the Eket Police Barracks.
These tragedies make the question increasingly difficult to ignore: how many homes must be submerged, how many businesses destroyed and how many lives placed at risk before flooding is treated not simply as a seasonal emergency but as a permanent infrastructure challenge?
For residents, the argument is not that government can stop rain from falling. The concern is what happens to the rainwater once it reaches the ground.
In some communities, roads and drainage systems that should provide safe passage for stormwater have instead become part of the problem.
Residents have repeatedly complained about blocked drainage channels, inadequate culverts, poorly channelled water and road projects that appear to leave communities vulnerable whenever the heavens open.
The concerns became particularly visible in Eket in June when Governor Umo Eno, during an inspection of the Afaha Atai Road project, rejected an apparent attempt to steer him away from a section where residents had complained about defective drainage.
He ordered the redesign of the affected section after inspecting the site and hearing concerns about the drainage.
The episode raised a broader issue: a road cannot be considered a successful infrastructure project if the drainage built alongside it simply transfers floodwater from one neighbourhood to another or fails to carry it away.
Residents have also blamed delayed or poorly executed road construction projects for worsening flooding in some areas. The criticism is particularly painful for communities that have watched roads remain under construction while rainfall continues to expose weaknesses in drainage planning.
It is a problem that goes beyond contractors alone. Urban expansion, construction on waterways and floodplains, indiscriminate waste disposal and inadequate maintenance of existing drains have all been identified as factors worsening flooding in the state.
Governor Eno himself has acknowledged that while flooding is partly a natural occurrence, human activities have complicated the situation by blocking waterways and drainage channels.
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Government Responds, But the Water Keeps Coming
The state government has not been passive; following the July flooding in Uyo, Governor Eno directed immediate desilting and clearance of blocked drainage channels. He visited affected communities, inspected critical drainage infrastructure and directed agencies and contractors to intensify emergency interventions.
He also directed further flood-control measures around Ibrahim Babangida Avenue and ordered intervention on the flooded portion of Atiku Abubakar Avenue, including the desilting of drains and construction of adjoining roads and side drains.
More significantly, the governor announced plans for a new state flood and drainage master plan, arguing that the existing framework no longer reflects the realities created by rapid urbanisation.
The administration also announced the Clean Akwa Ibom Brigade, alongside stronger enforcement against structures obstructing drainage channels and waterways.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, has also led emergency response efforts, while AKSEPWMA, AKSEMA, the Ministry of Works and other agencies have been mobilised to affected areas.
Yet for residents like Akpan, Bassey, Friday and Idongesit, government intervention cannot come quickly enough.
They do not need another assessment alone. They need their homes restored, their businesses supported and their neighbourhoods protected before the next rainfall arrives.
Beyond Emergency Desilting
The recurring flooding presents a challenge that emergency desilting alone may not solve.
It requires a coordinated approach involving road design, drainage capacity, urban planning, environmental enforcement, waste management and accountability for infrastructure projects.
Contractors handling road construction must be held to clear standards, particularly where drainage is concerned. Roads must be designed as part of an integrated water-management system rather than as isolated stretches of asphalt.
Drainage channels must be large enough for the realities of today’s rainfall patterns, properly connected and regularly maintained. Culverts must not become bottlenecks. Buildings must not be allowed to obstruct natural waterways. And communities must also stop turning drainage channels into dumping grounds.
The cost of failing to do so is no longer theoretical.
It is visible in the ruined electronics inside Akpan’s home. It is in the cement and POP materials destroyed in Friday’s building project. It is in the collapsed houses, damaged roads, lost businesses and displaced families. And, tragically, it is sometimes counted in human lives.
Back in Eket, Local Government Chairman Akaninyene Tommy has promised that the council will continue engaging NEMA and SEMA while compiling detailed assessments of affected areas for intervention.
But as displaced families wait, the central question remains whether the latest disaster will become another entry in the state’s long record of flood emergencies or the point at which Akwa Ibom finally confronts the deeper infrastructure and planning failures that turn heavy rainfall into catastrophe.
For the victims, the answer cannot wait until the next rain, because when the rain comes again, they want water to find its way through drains, not through their bedrooms, shops, businesses and lives.
