More than half of Miga town, headquarters of Miga Local Government Area of Jigawa State has been taken over by floodwater occasioned by three days of ceaseless rains.
Apart from Miga town, other parts of the local government area have not been spared of the flooding, which left about five lives lost and an unspecified number of houses swept away.
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Worst affected are the Local Government Council Secretariat, Corps members’ Lodge, the General Hospital, the Police Station, and the Hakimi palace, all of which have been submerged.
“Victims need emergency relief”
The Chairman of the Council, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Agufa, while conducting newsmen round the affected structures said the council was in dire need of emergency relief for the victims from both the federal authorities and the State government.
He identified other affected areas in the council as Hantsu, Sabongari, Tsokuwawa, part of Dangyantum, Sansani, and Koya, as well as part of Yanduna wards.
5 Died
Even though he could not give the exact statistics of houses affected by the disaster, he confirmed that so far five persons have died, including a toddler whose grandmother is currently on admission in a hospital over broken legs.
According to him, “Since we have not come to the end of the disaster, I cannot give you the exact number of the number of houses that were washed away, because even if I give you the figure now, it could change tomorrow.
“Besides, they are houses that fell and subdued so many people. In Miga, there are some lives that were lost, in Sansani, lives were lost, but now we are still collecting data, there is no way I can give the exact figure of houses.”
The Council boss said while it was yet to receive any emergency relief from NEMA, the state emergency agency (SEMA) has provided the council with some relief materials, which include 70 bags of garri, 50 bags of kulikuli; 30 bags of sugar.
In addition, he confirmed that SEMA had given the council two canoes to be used for conveying those in the riverine areas to safety, while the council had taken delivery of five out of the 10 canoes it has ordered.
He appealed to the federal government to urgently carry out the dredging of the Hadejia River right from Ringim Local Government down to Gurin, saying the perennial flooding incidents in the area would be solved through the project.
“So far, we have 5 people that have died in Miga, Sansani, Yanduna, Garko,” he said.
He further said the council has not been able to provide the victims with shelter facilities as they have been sheltering with relatives and friends pending when camps will be made available to cater for them.
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