Doma LG Residents Cry For Help As Floods Destroy Houses, Submerge Farm Lands
BY AHMED TUKUR, LAFIA –Torrential rainfall accompanied by heavy thunder storms that lasted many hours on Friday evening have destroyed many houses and submerged several farmlands in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
Also, household items worth millions of Naira were destroyed by the rampaging flood, leaving behind untold sufferings for residents who are now counting their losses.
Our correspondent, on a visit to the area, observed that several houses, along the Local Government Secretariat axis, were left flooded while residents struggled to save remnants of their destroyed properties.
A resident of Angwan Mada, located behind Government College and close to the Local Government Guest House, Sale Dauda, said many houses in the area have collapsed under the raging flood as domestic animals were also swept away.
Another victim of the flood, Joshua Amos lamented that his farmlands and that of others within the local government, have been washed away by the raging flood, leaving the farmers brokenhearted, with little or nothing to soothe their pains.
He said the current situation demands urgent intervention by the Federal Government to alleviate the peoples’ sufferings, stressing that the state government will find it difficult to tackle the perennial flooding crisis alone.
Amos lamented that he has unfortunately lost almost everything to the flash flood, adding that the huge losses inflicted on victims by the flood would be difficult to quantify because of its sheer magnitude of destruction.
In his intervention on the matter, a traditional ruler, Andoma of Doma, Ahmadu Aliyu Ogah, urged National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently come to the people’s aid with the view of easing their pains and sufferings.
The royal father noted that the flood has caused a lot of havoc to their household items and wares running into hundreds of millions of Naira.
He said it is a sad development that many of the affected areas, particularly in the surroundings town of Doma and villages, are always submerged by flooding whenever there is heavy rainfall.
Commenting on the unfortunate development, the State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Musa Ibrahim told Forefront that seven local governments areas in the state are affected by serious floods.
He listed the councils names as: Akwanga, Lafia, Doma, Nasarawa, Nasarawa Eggon, Karu and Toto local government areas respectively.
Musa therefore appealed to the Federal Government, through the Ecological Fund office, to assist the state in arresting the disaster that may escalate in a situation that the rains continue.
