FOLLOWING the flood disaster that recently ravaged part of Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, in which over 300 houses were destroyed, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has allayed the fears of its residents over the pathetic situation, assuring them that there would not be flood disaster in FCT.
The FCT administration further disclosed that the flood mishap that ravaged Kubwa, a satellite town of FCT in particular in August, 2006 was as a result of blockage of water channels by residents of the area, as rain that fell for just two days consecutively in that month was torrential than the whole of July, 2006.
The FCT Head of Department (HoD), Reservoir and Production of Water Board, Mr. Sunday Gbontaen, who disclosed this in a press briefing in Abuja, said there was a procedure before releasing water from Usman Dam, as corporation also in need of water every year.
According to him, we don’t release water without being planned. We need water every year. We take water from Gorara. So, if we have enough water, how do we still be looking for water? Before we release water, we must let the people know.
“In 2006 you are talking about, the rain fell, I think it was on August 7 and 8, the rain that fell for two days, Friday and Saturday was more than the one that fell for the whole of July. The disposal method of the people of Kubwa, or let me say most of them dumped their refuses in the river channel and it will block the drain.
“As a member of the committee set up by the FCT administration to go round and assess the situation, there was a man, who said just about two minutes water came in, and in the next two minutes again, the water left! What happened? There was a blockage, and when there is a blockage, water will not wait for you, it will try to find another way to go out and overcome that blockage, it will just move.
“So, the bulk of the rain fell that year, all passed through Kubwa, so Usman dam is just a small portion and that time, Usman Dam was about seven meters lower in the reservoir, so we were even trying to carry water from downstream if we can catch it and take it back, that is the situation”, he enlightened.
He, therefore, called on media PR actioners to use their intellect mental power to aggressively enlighten people why refuse should not be dumped on water channels.