About 30 residential buildings have been destroyed while over 200 persons were rendered homeless following a windstorm which ravaged Emankpa Egbong and other neighbouring communities in Ekajuk, Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The windstorm, which was accompanied by heavy rains, destroyed household property as well as farm crops and economic trees.
A resident of Emankpa community, Mr Kenneth Monfem, described the situation as pathetic, as victims now squat with neighbours and relatives, while members of churches destroyed now worship under trees.
Monfem thanked God that no life was lost, but said that many people sustained various degrees of injuries.
He appealed to the state government to, as a matter of urgency, assist victims to recover from the traumatic incident.
Assessing the disaster, the Director General, Cross River Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), John Inaku, assured that the state government would intervene in order to assuage the sufferings of the victims.
Inaku noted that most of the affected communities had no windbreakers, hence the need for community leaders and individuals to embark on tree planting.
“I hope other communities across the state can learn one or two things from this disaster. We need to start planting trees to save our communities from such natural disasters,” Inaku said.