Rivers State councils are frantically rescuing stranded residents as flood rises above 14 feet. Hope Ikiriko, Chairman of the Ahoada West Council, made the announcement yesterday and described the situation as devastating and uninhabitable.
The council head, who is a member of Governor Nyesom Wike’s Taskforce on Flood Management in Rivers State, said boats had been dispatched to villages to rescue trapped persons.
“The truth is that we cannot access Ahoada West anymore. All exit points and entry points are shut off. Right now, we are in Ahoada East. This road leads to Odioku, Ubeta, Ulubia, Igbechi, and others.
“All the roads leading to Ubie clan of Ahoada West are cut off. What we are doing now is rescue. We are on a rescue mission. We are going to rescue people, who hitherto never wanted to quit. It has been their tradition and they are not used to Internally Displaced Camps from time immemorial. Elderly people are all trapped in these villages. We have mobilised a rescue team to go and pick them out of these places and bring them to Ahoada East, where we can have a place for them to stay.
“Our IDP camps are no longer in Ahoada West, we are coming to Ahoada East for rescue. The whole of Ahoada West is shut out and all the communities cannot be accessed,” he said.
Dr. George Nwaeke, Chairman of the task force, said the committee was profiling victims and would commence distribution of relief materials within 72 hours.
Addressing the people, he said: “We have just come to see you, and we are going back now to come back with resources that will give you immediate succour. But before we do that, I will want this crowd to be properly profiled. We want to know the number of people that are here so that as we are planning, we plan with proper statistics.
“I want to assure you that His Excellency has done well for you. In 72 hours from now, we will be taking care of the immediate things, which will include food, and cleaning the environment to give you good health. As we speak, we came with a mobile clinic that will take care of any immediate challenge. Our health officers are around free.
A task force, set up by the Rivers State Government on Flood Management, kicked-started the first phase of its mandate to coordinate the distribution of relief materials to victims in the Orashi region as they visited communities submerged by water to take an on-the-spot assessment of the situation of things.
Wike, on October 12, approved the sum of N1 billion for emergency relief measures to support victims. The governor also set up a task force to coordinate the distribution of relief materials to affected communities.
According to him, the N1billion approved by the Rivers State Government will enable vulnerable families cope with the devastating flood.
