Two persons reportedly drowned, over the weekend, and 3,233 households were displaced from their homes as unabating flood worsened in Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Delta State.
This came from Bayelsa State Task Force on Flood Mitigation and Management, weekend, which visited some affected communities for an on-the-spot assessment of the impact.
Chairman of Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Mr Juan Governor, who confirmed the total number of households so far displaced by the flood, said one of the deceased was a lady in her 40s from Akarai in Ward 5 while the other one was a young boy from Otuoku community in Ward 6.
While disclosing that some persons across the LGA have relocated to relatives and friends in unaffected towns and cities, he said: “These persons were evacuated through self-efforts, community efforts and few cases of council-assisted evacuation.
“Some have no place to relocate to since IDPs camps are not set up in the LGA. The state attempted to set up IDPs camp in Ashaka two days ago but the flood took over the Ashaka Skill Acquisition Centre which was earmarked as the NELGA IDPs camp. Consequently, the setting up of the IDPs camp in NELGA was put on hold.”
Meanwhile, indigenes of the flood-ravaged communities in the council area have vowed to refrain from being treated as beggars, less-privileged or taken advantage of due to natural disasters, saying they would no longer be deceived by late attention, “especially when everything has got too the worst stage.”
Juan Governor, in a statement after a meeting with concerned leaders and NELGA Elders Advisory Council to evaluate the flood situation and chart a way forward, reiterated the resolve of the people not to tolerate anyone politicking with them on account of their ordeal.
“Every item in form of palliatives due for NELGA from the state, federal, government agencies, NGOs, companies, individuals or groups of individuals must be channelled through the council for proper documentation and accountability.
“NELGA people will henceforth reframe from being treated as beggars, less privileged or taken advantage of because of natural disaster.
“Therefore any help must be documented by the council, managed by the set-up flood committee and supervised by the Elders Advisory Council in each of the wards to enhance proper distribution, transparency and accountability with proper publication without prejudice to anonymous donors.”
-Vanguard
