Another devastating flooding in Ebonyi State has claimed the lives of no fewer than 7 persons, mostly women and children on flood plain village of Kpoghirikpo in Afikpo Local Government Area, according to emergency respondents in the area.
5 bodies including women and children have been recovered and buried, while 2 remain missing several days after the torrential rain triggered heavy flooding that swept away victims at farmlands and a boat in the riverine community.
Afikpo Local Government Area, in the southern part of Ebonyi State, is largely an agrarian setting that produce cassava, rice, palm oil, groundnuts, among other farm produce in large quantities.
Kpoghirikpo village, an ancient kingdom in Itim community, surrounded by a beach and mangroves is home to indigenous settlers who are mainly crop farmers and fishermen that largely depend on subsistence practices.
A natural occurance has brought agony, sorrow and gloom to the locals as a devastating flood has left no fewer than 7 persons dead and others still missing..
Eyewitness accounts say the casualty figure is high because the farmers attempted to salvage their already matured crops from the low plain farmlands following several days of heavy rainfall, when unexpected floods swept them away.
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Apparently, the locals had no knowledge about the NIMET flood prediction alert as no communication got to their communities.
Livinus Okagbuo, and Hassan Rumologo among others told ait.live that the villagers are in a sober mood, as they held back tears while narrating the sad incidents.
For Blessing Okochi, a daughter of one of the deceased women who has seven other siblings, the survival of her other siblings in the boat flood mishap that claimed their mother’s life was just miraculous.
The Ebonyi State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA says emergency search and rescue mission is still underway to get the two remaining bodies, some ten days after they were declared missing in the flood incident.
As the rains continue to pound heavily on parts of the country, emergency officials are urging residents in flood prone areas to move to high lands to save lives and property.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
