NEMA takes proactive steps to check flooding in South-East communities

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has taken pro-active steps to check flooding, which has been aggravating the menace of erosion in communities in the South-East geopolitical zone.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the zone has been experiencing heavy and regular rainfall in the past one month, as predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).

The Zonal Co-ordinator of NEMA, Mr Martins Udeinya, told NAN in Enugu on Thursday that the pro-active steps were necessary to mitigate the devastating effects of flooding in the area.

Udeinya said that the agency had officially written to flood-prone communities in the zone to alert them of the potential dangers and sensitise them to the need to clear their waterways and drainage systems.

He noted that the agency was currently working with state governments in the zone to clear the silt and dirt blocking the drainage systems of major cities and towns.

“Apart from the letters, NEMA, in conjunction with the leadership of the communities, planned to meet the people personally, so as to relay the implications of flooding to them.

“We will be working, in collaboration with other related and relevant agencies, to get the message down to the people.

“NEMA and its partners would be conveying the message to the people in the zone through open forums, distribution of flyers and other means of communication, which were tailored to reach the rural people.

“We will visit at least three communities, which had recorded severe cases of flooding, in each state in the zone,’’ he said.

The NEMA boss said that the agency would organise flood sensitisation campaigns in riverine communities along the River Niger, River Omambala and in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area in Enugu State.

NAN recalls that NiMet had predicted early onset of rainfall as well as early cessation of rainfall in many neighbourhoods across Nigeria in its 2017 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction