Bayelsa Residents Should Get Ready To Face Monstrous Flood This Year -Environmentalist
An environmental rights activist, Mr Morris Alagoa has warned residents of Yenagoa and other parts of the state to get ready to face what he described as a monstrous flood that will force them out of their homes this year.
Alagoa said in an interview with TNN that already, some of the residents have started making moves to relocate. He said with the opening of the dam in Cameroun and parts of northern Nigeria, Bayelsa would experience a serious flood situation.
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He expressed the fear of a possible hunger in the coming months, as farmers have been forced to undertake early harvesting of their crops so that the flood waters would not wash away the crops.
Alagoa who is also the head of the Bayelsa office of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth said “this year, although the rain is not much (as it was also in 2012), the flood is here. In some places it has levelled up with River banks and some families have been displaced already.
“Yet, in some other places where we are expecting outcries, like the Biseni and Okordia axis of Yenagoa local government area; we haven’t heard anything like that. This means it is still normal in those areas. In 2012 we started receiving calls for help from early September. A friend who relocated on 18th/30th September in 2012, 2018 and 2019 said to me this morning that his environment is still without water. He lives within the JTF headquarters Environment at Igbogene, Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State.
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“So, while I urged Bayelsans to prepare for emergency following predictions by NiMet and that dams have been opened, I wasn’t expecting a monster floods until I heard of opening of dam in Cameroon and Northern Nigeria.
“Except practical steps are taken in terms of commitment of funds and related Engineering works, it is difficult to avoid the flood, because it must come; though the magnitude may be different from year to year. We are in the Delta, as described by Herodotus, a flat low-lying terrain. And so, states like Bayelsa needs experts advise, like from those having similar terrain in the advanced climes, Scandinavian countries.
“It cannot be an overnight battle, but concerted efforts would go a long way to assist. For instance, deliberate and conscious consideration should be given to water passages and developers be guided on where and where not to build and, if you should build, the level of DPC and things like that; including streets and roads.
“This also calls for ordered developmental pattern in terms of housing estates by individuals, corporate bodies and Government. It would more cost effective for such development than individuals building haphazardly. Mortgage would allow occupiers to eventually own the houses.
“For now, people are seriously harvesting their cassava from their farms and processing them. This has become an annual ritual in this part of the country and, it has food security implications…forced harvest. Some people are making plans to relocate or already relocating.
A friend also reached out to me about four days ago, requesting for financial assistance to enable him relocate from one part of Yenagoa to another with his family.”
