The Delta State Government, on Wednesday, issued a fresh warning to residents in low-land and flood-prone areas to relocate to higher planes in view of the impending flood, on the heels of the release of water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam into the Rivers Niger and Benue.
This was contained in a statement signed by Festus Ahon, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, and made available to journalists in Warri.
According to the statement, the state government was concerned about the lives and property of citizens living in flood-prone areas in the face of earlier warnings from the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency.
It noted that the governor has approved the setting up of a 14-man Flood Disaster Management Committee headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kingsley Emu, to mitigate the challenges expected by the impending flood.
The committee, the statement explained, is saddled with the responsibility of carrying out aggressive sensitisation of citizens on the impending flood and to propose appropriate measures for the prevention and management of flooding, addressing the displacement of people and suggesting ways for the provision of relief materials to victims.
The statement partly read, “The Delta State Government has been informed that the authorities of Lagdo Dam in Cameroon will be releasing modulated amounts of water into the River Benue and River Niger due to flooding caused by torrential rainfall.
“The Delta State Government will provide support to those displaced from their homes by the rising water level occasioned by the overflow of the River Benue and River Niger.
“Already His Excellency, Sheriff Oborevwori, has approved the setting up of Flood Disaster Management Committee to ensure that persons displaced from their homes as a result of the impending flood are adequately catered for at various Internally Displaced Persons camps nearest to them.”
The statement added, “We are therefore calling on affected citizens to call the following numbers- 08064137841 and 08037200696 -for government intervention in the case of flooding.”