NO fewer than 60 houses have been destroyed and 1800 persons rendered homeless following a devastating windstorm which ravaged five communities of Mbube in Ogoja local government area of Cross River State.
The windstorm which was accompanied by heavy rain pulled down roofs and walls of houses in five Mbube communities of Ojerim, Oboso, Aragbang, Nkim, Ogberia-ochoro and Oboso.
Tribune Online who visited the communities spotted some of the victims sitting on tree shades and incomplete buildings.
Electrical appliances, furniture, books and other household property that could not be salvaged from the heavy down pour were seen scattered all over the place. In fact, there was an atmosphere of sorrow and grief in the communities.
Some of the victims who spoke to the Tribune Online lamented that they now sleep on the floor with mats in uncompleted buildings.
Mr Ekpang Obaje whose building, comprising of twelve rooms, was destroyed by the storm lamented that the unfortunate incident has caused untold hardship hence the need for urgent assistance from both the State and the Federal Governments as well as philanthropic individuals and groups.
Another victim, Andrew Odido in Ojerim, Mbube community said that his problem was compounded by the fact that he had committed his resources to this year’s farming, which is his main occupation and wondered how he would rebuild his house, which had its roof blown off and walls knocked down as well.
Chairman of Oboso Community, Mr Okate Okim said the natural disaster had become too frequent in the area, stressing the communities in Mbube and environs had been suffering from heavy rains and windstorm on a yearly basis.
Also commenting on the development, a community leader, Mr Joseph Ori, said, “In agrarian community such as this the impact is always too heavy because it destroys our farms and houses. But what can we do. It is a natural disaster. We need help urgently if not it will be practically difficult to return the people to a state of normalcy.
Assessing the disaster, Director-General of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), John Inaku described the situation as pathetic and promised that the state government would take pragmatic steps to provide palliative measures to cushion the effect of the disaster.
The DG who attributed the magnitude of the destruction to the effects of the climate change urged communities in the State to adopt resilient measures that could mitigate such disasters.
Mr Inaku advised that people should take advantage of the rainy season to plant trees around their houses, which could act as wind breakers and also improve the ecosystem.
He appealed to the Federal Government through NEMA to urgently assist as the situation was beyond the coping capacity of the State Government.
The State has experienced over 69 (Sixty-nine) cases of windstorm since 2010 affecting a total of about 36, 000 persons.