Agency advise residents to leave flood-prone areas

The Director-General of the agency, Mr John Shamonda, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen yesterday in Abuja.
Shamonda said that continued stay at flood-prone areas posed a great danger to lives and property.
“The information prepared by our agency on hydrological flood outlook is information for us to start preparing so that we will not experience what we had in 2012. The Local Government Councils are responsible to the grassroots and once they have this information they know that their areas have been classified as high risk flood zone areas. That means they should start evacuating those people that are living and having socio-economic activities in the flood plain zone. They can come back after the rainy season.
“In the Delta State they have two homes – the wet season home and the dry season home. This type of arrangement should be encouraged,” he said.
Recall that the hydrological agency’s flood outlook released on June 16 predicted flooding in some states of the country. The flood high-risk areas are Sokoto, Zamfara, Yobe, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Taraba, Adamawa, Oyo and Osun states.
According to the report, the moderate flood risk areas are Kebbi, Kaduna, Niger, Oyo, Edo, Cross River, Taraba, Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Imo and Plateau, among others.
The country experienced an unprecedented flood that affected about 27 states causing deaths and displacing a lot of people from their homes.
Shamonda said that the devastation caused by floods had been exacerbated by low level of awareness of the effects of human activities on drainage.
“Such activities include the dumping of refuse, erecting of structures on flood plains and other indiscriminate actions that interfere with the free flow of water,’’ he said. (NAN)