Sapele residents raise alarm as flood wreaks havoc in Delta community

Following heavy downpours, residents of Okuowori in Amukpe community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State have cried out for help as their homes and businesses have come under devastating flood attack.

Most of the residents have been sacked from their homes, while students who enrolled for the National Examination Council (NECO) examination have been forced to relocate from their schools to places on higher grounds.

According to the General Overseer of Promise Kingdom Ministry, Archbishop Iboyi Okokporo, the menace was as a result of the blocking of the water tunnel and canal with heaps of refuse from the massive dump site poorly managed in the area.

“People should stop building houses on natural water channels as it will disturb the smooth flow of water to the river. We want the relevant authorities to come over and appraise the situation for necessary actions.

“I hope the state government would do something about the situation. If the relevant authorities can construct a strong drainage system in the community to connect to the Ethiope River, I don’t think there will be flood in the community again.

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Another resident, Mrs Grace Owe, said “everywhere is flooded here. We are calling on the federal, state and local governments to come to our rescue. We have been suffering from this for over four years now. We have been doing our best to combat the yearly occurrence of devastating flooding here, but the situation is getting out of hand, so much so that those that could relocate permanently from here have started doing so,” she said.

Mr Ajajaye, Public Relations Officer of First Oxford Group of Schools in Okuovwori, said “this flood didn’t start today, but many years ago. Whenever the burrow pit is filled up, water starts entering houses just like what we are experiencing now because there is a poor drainage system here.

“This place needs drainage that will take the water down to the river and the whole bad experience will be averted,” he added.

While stating what the community was doing about the flooding, the President General of Amukpe Community, Comrade Harrison Emekeme, said “it is so unfortunate that flood has submerged some parts of our community. The community will do something about it by drawing the attention of the relevant authorities to the menace.”

Last year, it was reported that the flood was so intense that some of the livestock in the area were consumed by flood, leaving a church building in shambles and many other buildings, goods, properties and farmlands devastated.