Not less than three persons have reportedly lost their lives at the relief camp in Ivrogbo, Isoko South Local Government of Delta State following the trauma of rescuing victims from communities affected by massive flooding prompting authorities to relocate the survivors to St Michaels Primary School, Oleh, which is the headquarters of the council.
Among the communities submerged by the floods include Ovrode, Ofagbe, Okpe-Isoko, Lagos Iyede, Igeh, Ikpede, Onogboko, Itebioge, Exiro, Iyede-Ame, Azagba, Otoka-Ekegbresi, Egbeme, Warri-Irri, Iwrie-Ogbokor, Ekpe, Asafo, Ivrogbo and Ashaka comprising Isoko North and South as well as Ndokwa East Local Government Areas.
Meanwhile, motorists plying the Ughelli-Asaba express road have diverted to other routes following the overflow of flood water around Osisa, extending to Ashaka and Aboh in Ndokwa East. Transport fares by road and water have hit the rooftop, in some cases as high as 500 percent.
However, Secretary to the State Government, Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay along with other members of the Isoko Political Class, have mobilised over 36 speed and engine boats to help in the rescue of peopled still trapped in riverine areas. Clothes, foodstuff and other medicaments were also provided by the group.
Explaining the situation to news men monitoring the effect of the floods, commissioner for Land, Surveys and Urban Development, Sir Patrick Ferife said political office holders from Isoko led by the SSG were deeply touched by damage caused by the flood and pooled resources to provide palliatives to the victims.
Former Chairman of the Delta State Post Primary Board, Chief (Mrs) Evelyn Aluta while addressing the survivors urged them to remain calm as efforts by the Isoko Political Class and the State Government would yield the desired results.
Nigeria Flood, Delta state: I have been working with the Delta state Red Cross prior to the Flood on a mobile maternal and child health clinic that includes the areas near the flood zone in Isoko North LGA. The clinic also has links to Ughelli North LGA. So I am in contacts with Red Cross staff on humanitarian response in the flood now: they say that latrines are in short supply and fear cholera and other diarrheal diseases at some point in the crisis; they say food donations by private individuals are too concentrated on white rice, that is to say, only carbohydrate and no nutrient source foods like meet, vegetables and fruit, this puts adults at risk of dehydration from lack of electrolytes and child under five at risk of kwashiorkor which is a type of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) known to the lay person as advanced starvation – therefore please donate canned fish and meets etc.; latest troubling report is that girls in some flood IDP settlements have been targeted for rape by local young men. All of this raises concerns over the organisation of the flood response. As of first week of October, 1.3 million people across Nigeria had been displaced in 30 of the country’s 36 states. Flood water was still spreading this week, covering new areas in the south in Delta state. At the town of Ozoro, a local person said that flood water is five minutes drive from the town. This puts the flood water in this area at around 25-30 km west of the Niger River. Most of Bayelsa state on the east bank of the Niger River opposite Delta is flooded. Available international NGOs are overstretched. I tried to bring in Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-Spain to Delta state in the Ozoro-Ughelli flood zone but they said they are tied up with flooding further north in the country. Worse still, the reporting by some international news agencies is appalling bad, the BBC is a case in point, after an initial mention early on in the flood, it’s last report – there have been no further ones – chose to focus on the superficial and exotic, reporting that hippos and crocodiles had been displaced by the flood and entered people’s houses. Very low standard of reporting.