Flood cuts off Lokoja Highway, submerges houses, worship centres

Motorists plying Lokoja -Ajaokuta Road, which links part of the eastern flank of the state were stranded at Ganaja-Lokoja Road on Monday as water from River Niger/Benue flooded the road and made it impassable.

Daily Trust gathered on Monday that three articulated vehicles that attempted to cross got stuck on the highway, making others park on the road and causing a long queue of vehicles parked by the roadside.

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Malam Idris Usman, a motorist who claimed to be plying Ayangba -Lokoja every day, said he had to discharge his passengers at the Ganaja-Lokoja village and turned back.

It was noted that motorists going to the East from the North had to go through Okene -Adogo via Ajaokuta-Itobe Highway to continue their journeys.

Many passengers boarded canoes to pass through the flooded part of the highway to the other side of Lokoja to continue their journey.

Also, many houses at Gadumo, Adankolo, Kpata and Marines quarters in Lokoja as well as churches, mosques and business centres were submerged by flood.

Meanwhile, the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said that no fewer than 18,406 persons have been displaced by flood in 14 local government areas of the state.

The Director General of the agency, Yabawa Kolo, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Monday.

She listed the affected areas to include Shani, Kwaya Kusar, Biu, Damboa, Askira Uba, Chibok, Kaga, Dikwa, Maiduguri, Monguno, Jere, Mobbar, Gwoza, Monguno and Kala Balge.

The SEMA boss said the damage assessment exercise conducted in Monguno and Kala Balge LGAs showed that the flood submerged farmlands, displaced 1,735 persons, destroyed 681shelters and 112 toilet facilities at the GGSS, NRC and Gana Ali Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

Yabawa said that the state’s Flood Response Committee headed by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Usman Kadafur, had been working to assist the victims of the disaster. (NAN)