The Benue State Government on Friday said it was making arrangement to assist those affected by the Thursday’s flash flood in Makurdi.
Mr Emmanuel Shior, the Executive Secretary, Benue State Emergence Management Agency (SEMA), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in a telephone interview in Makurdi that government was on top of the situation.
Shior said that Gov. Samuel Ortom had already directed the agency to make adequate arrangement to assist all affected persons.
He said that the government was not going to establish any camp for the victims because the water had already recede.
Shior said the flash flood had affected residents of Idye Village, Radio Benue, Rice Mill Wadata, Wurukum Market, Gyado Villa, Achusa village, Pleasure Travels Park, Living Faith Wurukum among others.
He said an assessment was ongoing to know the exact number of affected families, persons, businesses and houses.
The SEMA boss said that the 2019 flash flood came a little earlier than previous flood disasters, noting that more states were likely to be affected by flood in the coming days.
“Flooding will likely occur in some states of the federation following the information from NIMET and the updates from NEMA that they were receiving.
“As a state, we already have elaborate plans on ground to address the flood challenges.
“Already, most of the flooded areas have dried up, we will follow up with our planes to assist all victims,” he said.
Shior said that government had constituted a committee with a mandate to find ways of mitigating flood in the state.
According to him, memberships of the committee are Commissioners for Water Resources and Environment, Information, Culture and Tourism with officials from SEMA, among others.
He appealed to all those residing along flood prone areas to vacate as soon as possible.
NAN reports that flood has become an annual challenge to the people of Makurdi, but successive governments have done nothing tangible to address it.
In 2017, flood destroyed many houses and property in over 15 local government areas in the state.
