Flood Wrecks Havoc In Calabar

SEVERAL  houses and cars  were on Tuesday afternoon over flooded in the Cross River State capital following a torrential down pour that inundated the city for three hours.

Places like the Nigerian Chronicle situated on Barracks Road, Akim Police Station,  and houses on Marian Road at the Calabar Municipal area and  those on Palm Street, Atamunu Avenue, Webber Street,  Murray Street, Ekpo Abasi and jebbs alley  in Calabar South where inaccessible following the volume of water that overwhelmed the  houses.

At the Nigerian  Chronicle property worth millions of naira was destroyed when the flood entered the canteen and the Production unit leaving machines and other property  submerged in water.

At the Target  Road by Murray Street, several  cars were swept into the drain and  occupants escaped by  the whiskers when they were rescued by passersby while their cars were swept into the drain popularly called “Big Gutter”.

The General Manager of the Nigerian Chronicle, Mr Emmanuel Akpong told Vanguard that such flooding had never been experienced in the premises and called for assistance from the state government to address the devastation wrecked by the flood and replace the machines.
“We have never in the past thirty  years seen this kind of flooding and it is  it worsen by  the perimeter  fence which collapsed following the impact of the flood”.

He said the absence of the perimeter fence would give easy access to rodents and reptiles  into the premises to rodents which will put the lives of thpose working there at risk particularly at night  due to the proximity of the premises to the main drainage in the city and uninhabited portions of land  into where they could escape and enter the premises .

Mr John Inaku, the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA appalled to the Federal Government  to extend the 100 million naira assistance given to other states that experienced flooding to the state because apart from Calabar several other places in the state have experienced flooding this year with crops and houses  worth millions of naira destroyed.

“We appeal that the Federal Government should also extend to us the assistance given to other  states that have experienced flooding to mitigate the suffering expended by those affected by flooding in the state.

“From reports we have got, over thirty houses have been over flooded and nine already pilled down and by the end of the day many more houses would have suffered the flooding”

Culled from Emma Unah Facebook wall.