The senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Victor Umeh, has called on the Federal Government to declare the district an ecological disaster zone following worsening erosion and flooding that have destroyed homes and threatened communities.
Parts of Awka, the Anambra State capital, have recently experienced severe flooding and erosion following torrential rainfall, with about three houses reportedly collapsing into an erosion gully and their occupants displaced.
The flooding also claimed the life of a six-year-old schoolboy who was caught in floodwaters while travelling to school earlier in the week.
Umeh made the appeal when he visited the family of the deceased child and inspected areas affected by erosion, including locations where houses had collapsed into gullies.
“I feel sad that Anambra Central Senatorial District is under serious erosion menace and flooding. I was in Obosi and Ogidi in Idemili area just weeks back to see the devastation of flood and erosion. This time, it is Awka, the capital of Anambra State,” Umeh said.
“It is sad that all the local governments in my senatorial district are experiencing flood and erosion devastation.”
The senator warned that more buildings were at risk as rainfall continued, arguing that the scale of the problem had exceeded what affected residents could address without government intervention.
“All the buildings around here are under threat, these ones right behind me have already collapsed and part of the other one has also collapsed. This gully is a long stretch and I don’t know how we can be saved, if not for the intervention of the Federal Government. I’m calling on the Federal Government for help,” he said.
“You have seen that the rain is still falling, what this means is that these people are under threat. This requires immediate attention from government. There is need for remedial action to halt the continuous spread of this erosion at least in this area.”
Umeh called for the situation to be treated as an emergency by the Federal Government and its ecological authorities.
“The best thing for the Federal Government to do is to declare my senatorial district an ecological disaster zone, so that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the ecological office, will treat this as an emergency. Remedial work by the residents can no longer do anything,” he said.
The senator said he already had a motion concerning erosion in the Idemili North and South areas pending before the Senate and would expand it to cover the latest affected communities.
“My motion on the Idemili North and South axis is already pending before the Senate, so when I get back, I will have to update that motion to include these ones so that Federal Government will see what is happening in my senatorial district. We need help and we need Federal Government intervention in this matter,” Umeh said.
One of the residents affected by the erosion, retired senior police officer Celestine Okoye, also appealed for government intervention, saying residents now lived in fear as the erosion threatened more properties.
Umeh also visited Mr and Mrs Ezenwafor, whose six-year-old child died following Tuesday’s flooding incident, and condoled with the family over their loss.
David-Chyddy Eleke
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