Yobe: Flooding sacks 31, 000 families, displaces 6, 592 communities

The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), yesterday, said about 31, 000 families were affected by flood, while 6,592 residents were displaced in various communities.

SEMA’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Goje, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Damaturu, said the 255 communities affected are sited along Rivers Komadugu-Gana and Yobe banks and flood plains in the state.

He stressed that heavy downpours of rain between May and September resulted in flooding of 255 communities across the state.

According to him, the two-month rainfall led to the deaths of five children in Gashua, displacement of people and destruction of houses, food items and 645 livestock worth millions of naira.

He listed some of the affected communities to include Gashua, Jakusko, Geidam, Jumbam, Girgir, Dapchi, Mutai, Katarko and Bara in Gulani Council.

Goje said that the magnitude of the flood disaster is high and needs multi-sectorial and inter-agency intervention with robust resource mobilisation at state and council levels, because the magnitude of the flood is the worst in recent times in Yobe State.

“These are to cushion hardships the flood victims are undergoing. The responses are to ensure that in times of such flooding, appropriate institutional processes and procedures, coordination and resources are in place.

“The mitigations against flooding are put in place to support the affected households and communities. The worst hit communities are Jakusko, Gashua, Jumbam and Mutai,” he noted.

On source of the flood, 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.

“The water that flows from dams in Kano State through Hadejia settles in the Nguru wetlands, Bade and Jakusko communities, 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, the flow of water from Gombe, Dadinkowa, Nafada in Gombe state also settles in Fika, Fune and Jakusko farming and herding communities.

“There is another flow of flood water from Lake Chad through Katarko, Mutai and Fune riverine to the Jakusko community that led to the loss of  over 1,000 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.”