Umar Sani
Residents of Bauchi State are still counting their losses following the penultimate Saturday night heavy downpour which washed away houses, animals, and farmlands.
Cheledi, a community in the Kirfi Local Government Area of the state was also washed away.
According to information gathered by our correspondent, the flood also washed away houses, animals, and food worth several millions of naira.
A resident of Cheledi village, Auwal Ahmad Cheledi, explained that the flood, more than ever was a disaster brought upon the affected communities.
He narrated the bizzare incident: “It happened after a heavy downpour on Saturday night.
“Then a bush water which repeatedly occurred through the past years violently approached and collapsed a dam which was built to contain the flood.
“It destroyed many houses, washed away domestic materials and animals.”
Auwal, a relative and friend to many victims, recalled that the disturbing flood began to manifest in 2021.
“That year, it also destroyed several houses such that victims were housed in the village primary school for three months until the end of the rainy season. And this time also that is what happened. Some people had to stay with their relatives, neighbours, and associates because their houses were destroyed with nothing left to salvage from the wreckage.”
He noted that before this year’s rainy season after several warnings by the authorities on the possibility of flooding, the residents at the local level did all that they could but to no avail.
“It is water that we don’t have the strength to stop. If you have an experience of how an ocean roars that is how the water behaves.
“What we could do was just to assemble sacks of sand at certain strategic places which we did, but this year’s flood has surpassed all our energies,” he stressed.
He lamented that all the government has been doing is creating awareness on the flood yet it did not unfulfill its part of the several promises of finding lasting solutions to the danger.
“Every time they will just remove the water in the dam and calm us down. But, they have been promising to work on lasting solutions which to date has yet to come.
He called on the state government to activate lasting solutions to the flooding issues experienced by the villagers by building a conducive drainage system that will drive away the water back to the river.
Responding to the development, the Director of Publicity, Bauchi State Emergency Management Agency, Adamu Nayola explained that before the rainy season, and while working with the relevant authorities, the agency created awareness in the different communities on safety measures.
He said, “SEMA has designed and made recommendations to the state government on building waterways in Cheledi village. And I am sure the governor will act to put in place proper and lasting solutions to the flood-threat areas.
“Not only that, we have collaborated with sister agencies such as the Ministry of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Agriculture Extension Workers to design strategies which were issued to the communities.”
Nayola opined that it is the result of the state government actions that some flood-threat areas within the metropolis recorded minimal trouble this year.
However, he expressed confidence that the state government will bring a lasting solution to Cheledi village as well.
In a related development, Arewa PUNCH gathered that following an increase in rainfall, the flood has destroyed over 210 houses and damaged thousands of hectares of farmlands across the state.
The Coordinator of the Bauchi State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Umar Gabarin disclosed that the flood has affected almost every part of the state.
Aside from Cheledi, he equally identified Magama in Toro LGA, Kari in Darazo, and Zindi in Misau as some of the other worst-hit communities in the state.
Gabarin noted that “seven other LGAs, including Itas Gadau, Jama’are, Ganjuwa, Shira, Zaki, Warji, and Katagum, are at high to moderate risk of further flooding, bringing the total to nine.
“Many residents disregarded warnings from the SEMA and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, which had predicted the areas and named periods of threats,” he pointed out.
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