15 Hours of Rain Causes Flood in Kaduna

Hundreds of people have been rendered
homeless in Kaduna State, following the
destruction of their homes by a heavy
downpour which lasted for about 15 hours.
Several parts of Kaduna metropolis were
flooded with travellers on the busy Abuja-
Kaduna Highway stranded as the bridge
connecting the road was submerged.
The rain, which started at about 8p.m. on
Tuesday, did not stop until about 1p.m.
yesterday, sweeping away many homes, while
several were submerged.
Some of the areas affected included Ungwan
Boro, Narayi, Ungwan Maigero, Ungwan Romi,
Gonin Gora, Tudun Wada, Kigo New Extension,
Nasarawa, Ungwan Rimi, Romi, Kabala Doki
and Karatudu.
Residents in flood-prone areas said they were
taken unawares.
A resident in Ungwan Romi said they were
almost killed when their house collapsed.
“We survived by miracle. We were sleeping
when the rain was falling, then after sometime,
a part of the room collapsed. I quickly woke
my family up and we ran inside the rain to one
of our relation’s place that was safe,” he said.
However, officials of the state Emergency
Management Agency (SEMA) could not
comment on the incident, saying the agency
was still assessing the disaster.
The spokesman of the agency Abubakar Adamu
Zakari, said in a telephone interview, that he
was too busy to give details of the flood,
adding that the disaster displaced a lot of
people.
“I am very busy now. So, I am not in a
position to give you details of the affected
areas, the destructions and the people
displaced. We are still assessing the damage,
you can call me tomorrow” he said.
Meanwhile, as the rainy season draws to a
peak, the National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA) has requested the state
governments and all other stakeholders to
match their commitments with action towards
addressing the challenges of flood, especially
now that some communities are already being
devastated by the disaster.
The Director General of NEMA, Muhammad
Sani Sidi, said the early action would prevent
reoccurrence of the huge losses suffered from
the 2012 flood.
He spoke in Abuja, while receiving a delegation
from the World Bank that visited the
headquarters of the agency.
In a statement issued by NEMA's Press Officer,
Mr. Manzo Ezekiel, Sidi said a high power team
from he agency had embarked on advocacy
visits to the state governors while official
camps were already erected in safe grounds in
identified flood prone-areas to accommodate
persons that would be displaced by the
disaster.
He said the camps are provided with basic
facilities such as security, water and sanitation
as well as food while it will also prevent the
use of public schools by Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs).
The statement said since the release of the
2013 Seasonal Rainfall Predictions by the
Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), which
indicated the likelihood of flood in some parts
of the country, the NEMA had undertaken a
series of activities on awareness creation and
also secured the commitment of the
stakeholders towards proactive measures and
building community resilience against the
disaster.
"Some of these included early warning alerts,
media campaigns, training of community based
organisations and consultative meeting with
the stakeholders, mapping of the communities
at risk and evacuation plan among others,"
Earlier, the leader of the World Bank team,
Mr. Raffaelle Cervigni, said they were at the
agency to identify areas where the bank could
support the efforts towards increasing
community resilience to disasters in the
country.
So far, there have been reports of flood
affecting communities in Bauchi, Plateau,
Katsina and Jigawa States among others.