By John Odhe, YENAGOA
The Bayelsa State Directorate of Flood and Erosion Control, says Bayelsans have no reason to panic over the flood risk alerts predicted for Bayelsa and other states by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) respectively
The Director General of the directorate, Chief Omuso Wilson Omuso stated this while reacting to the latest flood predictions by the two federal government agencies.
Omuso said already, the directorate which was established by the incumbent governor, Senator Douye Diri, had already swung into actions aimed at mitigating effects of flood in the State.
The director general hinted that “we are doing so well so that the flood that is being predicted will not really have problems for us.”
“We are opening up all the channels of water flow; that’s desilting the channels and also clearing the banks of the channels. If there is free flow of water, the floods that are coming will not be retained and they will find themselves into the sea.
“The channels in Yenagoa are interconnected, so we are channelling all of them to the Otuoke channel which will take all of them to the ocean. So there’s nothing to really fear about in Yenagoa, particularly.”
On other parts of the State, Omuso reiterated that measures were also being put in place to cushion the effects of the anticipated floods.
He pointed out that pilot schemes on preparation of higher grounds had already been done in Yenagoa and Ekeremor local government areas.
“In September or thereabouts when the flood picks, we will go and see whether what we have put in place is really taking care of the flood,” he said, adding that such would be replicated in other local government areas depending on the rising water levels.
The federal government through NIHSA and NiMet has placed 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on high alert for severe flooding this year.
The most vulnerable states include: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Cross River, Abia, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi.
Others are: Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Plateau, the FC, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, and Gombe.
While some states may be hit by flash floods, others would be affected by water which might overflow the banks of the River Niger.
