By Stanley Onyekwere
Despite the devastating effect of the high volume of rain fall witnessed in 2022, to communities across the nation, the FCT Administration successfully managed the situation, leading Abuja becoming a standard in flood control in the country.
This, the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) attributed to early warnings and massive sensitisation drive which led to a drastic reduction in the impact of flooding in the FCT.
Director General of FEMA, Alhaji Abbas Idriss, who made this disclosure while giving a scorecard on some of the agency’s activities in 2022, noted that the 2022 floods were the worst experienced in decades, as created humanitarian crises in many parts of the country.
Idriss, while making reference to federal government data, stated that “the floods affected 34 states in the country, displacing 1.4 million people, killed 603 people and injured 2,400 persons. The FCT was not spared heavy rains according to the 2022 seasonal climate prediction by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), rainfall in the FCT fell within the range of 1190 mm and 1590 mm slightly higher than 2021, but in spite of the heavy rains, no lives were lost to flooding in the FCT.
He said: “Today, the FCT has become a standard in flood control in the country. This is because of a drastic reduction in the impact of flooding in the FCT.
We attribute this development to early warning and massive sensitisation on what to do before the rains, during the rains and after the rains.
“We have also issued early warning in line with the impact based seasonal climate prediction by NIMET, and the annual flood outlook issued by the Nigeria Hydrological Agency (NIHSA).”
Idriss also disclosed that in 2022, FEMA responded to 42 distress calls on the 112 emergency toll free numbers, indicating a reduction from the 173 distress calls it responded to in 2021.
The DG equally attributed this reduction to the massive sensitisation of residents, whom he commended for heeding to early warnings on possible flooding.
Also, the FEMA boss commended FCT residents for their cooperation, particularly in heeding to its and other relevant emergencies early warning.
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