News
Aba community submerged under flood after 3 days of rain
BY EMMANUEL OGWU
Aba, the commercial capital of Abia State, is at its ugly best with the return of the rains. After nearly three days of persistent downpour many residents now live in palpable fear as they continue to count their losses to flood.
Worst hit, according to Vanguard report, are residents of Ukwu-Mango area, near Ifeobara Basin, who have been sacked from their homes.
According to the report, the flood had crippled commercial activities as well as human and vehicular movement around the Ifeobara Basin, near the popular Ariaria International Market.
Residents said the situation had been with them for many years, but got worse with the overflowing of the Ifeobara Basin as a result of the three days downpour.
They said the 5.6-kilometre drainage Abia State Government claimed to have built at Ifeobara Basin to pump out stormwater from the Ariaria area, to Aba River, is not functioning, as the basin has been taken over by weeds.
Residents said the Ifeobara Basin project had been abandoned, as the contractors have not been seen for over a year.
They said the abandonment of the Ifeobara drainage has made them hopeless, as flood is now causing untold hardship with negative effects on lives and property.
It was learnt that the submerged neighbourhood had have been occupied by some miscreants who now cause serious fear in most of the adjoining streets.
One of the affected residents said that they had tried their best to tackle the flood with their own local knowledge, but the situation had overwhelmed them.
He noted that the flood had sacked many families, submerged homes, and made it extremely difficult for families to even come out to fend for their daily living.
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He said “From Omuma Road, the abattoir (slaughter) at Old Express, down to Francis Street, Olumba Street and the whole of this Ukwu Mango, no place is safe from flood. We’re leaving in a disaster zone.
“The Ifeobara Basin they always say on radio that’s pumping water to Aba river is not functioning. There’s nothing like pumping water away from here to Aba river. People come out and enter their houses by the grace of God.
“If there’s anything the government can do sincerely to save us from the bad situation let them do it. People are already running away from their homes here,” another resident of the area, a woman, lamented.
She added: “The situation here has subdued all of us. Residents are losing important properties to flood each time it rains. We may say the situation has made us hopeless.
“We’re always afraid of every tomorrow because we don’t know what it’ll bring for us. We don’t know what is going to happen tonight when the next rain comes.
“There’s a church at Olumba Street, go there now, nobody even comes there to worship again. It’s an ECWA Church. It’s been submerged since the rain started and the flood has destroyed almost everything inside there.”
She pleaded with the Abia State Government to come to their aid, saying, “We’ve suffered too much.”