Floods have hit most parts of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, rendering hundreds of residents homeless, the News Agency of Nigeria is reporting.
A correspondent of the agency, who went round Makurdi on Sunday, reports that the worst hit areas included Achussah.
Also affected were Jerome Hwande Street, Ankpa Quarters Extension, Ankpa Ward by Demekpe, Living Faith Church, Naka Road, and Behind Customary Court of Appeal.
Others are Gboko Road, JS Tarka University of Agriculture Road, Nyiman Village, Wurukum Roundabout, Logo 1 Akpehe village, Ide village and Kasho village.
The disaster not only rendered many homeless, but destroyed lots of properties.
NAN reports that flooding had, over the last decade, become a yearly routine, destroying properties and causing loss of lives in some cases.
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These areas were among the worst hit areas of the 2017 flooding that displaced over 120,000 persons in the Benue State capital, while in 2022, over 14 councils were affected.
NAN reports that Makurdi residents mostly experience flooding whenever there is rainfall largely due to lack of proper and adequate drainage system and not always due to the overflow of River Benue.
At Agber Village, Hope Igbawua told NAN that the situation was beyond their control, adding that the residents have reported the matter to relevant authorities over the years without positive response.
Igbawua said as a community, they couldn’t do much, adding that the situation required hundreds of millions to be addressed.
She said: “See my brother, our problem here is not the overflow of water from River Benue, but lack of a proper and adequate drainage to collect water to the main drainage that was constructed by the Federal Government.
“The situation we face here is almost similar with many people in Makurdi.
“Not all of us are affected by the overflow of River Benue.
“We need drains.”
The Executive Secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency, James Iorpuu, said they were already mapping out areas and households affected by the flood for immediate intervention.
Iorpuu said SEMA had earlier carried out massive advocacy on flood and appealed to those living along flood prone areas to evacuate to safer areas.
On his part, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Ugwu Odoh, said a comprehensive drainage design of the affected communities would be carried out, while the Urban Development Board would demolish buildings blocking water channels.
The Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Aondowase Kunde, said a joint memo would be submitted to Governor Hyacinth Alia for necessary actions to address the issue of flooding in the State.
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