Flooding: Houses, farmlands destroyed in Jigawa villages

The heavy rainfall recently witnessed in many parts of the country has wreaked havoc in some villages in Malam Madori Local Government Area (LGA) of Jigawa State.

Residents of some of the affected villages told Chronicle that hundreds of houses and several hectares of farmland were destroyed, forcing the inhabitants to seek shelter at mosques, schools and other public places.

Muhammad Bulama, who spoke on behalf of Yusuf Bulama, the Village Head of Mairakumi, said that no fewer than 450 houses were destroyed in the village and several square kilometres of farmland flooded.

“Officials of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) were here to see for themselves. They have gone round, taken pictures of the destroyed houses and farms, and I can tell you that along the Hadejia-Malam Madori road, up to Garun Gabas Tsohuwa, all the farms were flooded,” he said.

He called on authorities and other wealthy individuals to support the victims so as to cushion the effect of the flooding.

Also speaking, the Village Head of Garun Gabas, Malam Rabiu Ibrahim, told Chronicle that about 40 houses were destroyed in his village, attributing the unfortunate incident to lack of good drainage.

The village head, who also confirmed that SEMA officials were in his village to assess the level of the destruction, called on the authorities to provide relief to the affected persons.

He also called on the government to construct drainage in the village to avert future occurrence.

It was also gathered that the member representing Malam Madori and Kaugama federal constituency, Hon. Makki Abubakar Elleman, was in Mairakumi and Garun Gabas villages to provide relief materials to the victims.

When contacted, the chairman of Malam Madori LGA, Hussaini Umar, confirmed that at least 10 villages were affected, and that he went round to see what happened after which he briefed the state governor.

“The governor immediately assigned SEMA to assess the level of destruction caused by the flooding, and as I speak with you, our councillors are going round along with the staff of SEMA, and it is when they are done with the assessment that we would know the exact level of the damage,” he said.