Flood ravages 3 council areas in Plateau, displaces many

Following torrential rain in some parts of Plateau State, no fewer than 1,500 people have been displaced and property worth millions naira destroyed in  three local government areas of the  state.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, the state chairman, State Emergency Relief Management Agency, Alhassan Barde, said assessments carried out by his agency revealed that Jos North, Jos South and Jos East Local Governments were affected by flood.

According to him, 700 people were displaced in Jos North Local Government, 400 in Jos South, adding that the agency only got wind of the flood in Jos East, but were yet to ascertain the level of destructions.

“As a result of the flood in this council areas, those displaced are presently in IDP camps, but from our assessments so far, there is no loss of life. We are appealing to residents of Plateau to take all precautionary measures against flood,” he advised.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the rain, which lasted for more than three hours in these council areas on Tuesday, also washed away farmlands, buildings, including culverts and bridges, linking the communities with one another.

Meanwhile, a member of Plateau State House of Assembly representing Jos East Constituency, Honourable Joshua Madaki, has disclosed that over 29 cows were drowned by a heavy downpour in Jos East Local Government Area of Plateau  State, following heavy downpour on Tuesday evening.

Honourable Madaki told newsmen on Wednesday that the heavy downpour, which lasted several hours, wreaked havoc by disconnecting the council secretariat from the people, forcing residents to go through Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State before they could reach the council headquarters.

Madaki solicited the intervention of the Plateau State government and other spirited individuals to rescue the affected communities by providing relief materials and to reconstruct the damaged bridges to enable the farmers to move their harvest to the markets.“The main roads connecting Fobur-Federe-Angwari at Keven are badly washed away by the flood, including crops such as rice, yam,” he lamented.