Heavy floods displace over 100 in Benue

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Heavy rainfall at the weekend caused destruction to houses and property of Makurdi residents and its environ.
The rain which started midnight Friday fell till 2pm Saturday displacing hundreds of residents.
Several areas including Nyiman, Agber Village, BIPC Estate and its extension, Apaar Batur Village on Naka Road, Ishaya Bakut road and some parts of Judges Quarters were worst hit as residents suffered great losses.
Our correspondent who went round some parts of the State capital saw residents evacuating their family members as well as belongings to safer areas.
Governor Samuel Ortom who also went round to assess the level of devastation caused by the torrential rainfall, proposed the dredging of the River Benue as the only panacea to mitigating the incessant flooding in the State.
He called on members of the National Assembly from the state to take the issue of dredging of River Benue seriously to ensure that it is captured in the 2021 budget and also implemented.
The Governor stated that though the drainage channel constructed by the Federal Government had mitigated the effect of the flooding to a large extent, more needed to be done in terms of opening more drainage to help salvage the situation.
He also charged people of the state to always get approval from relevant authorities before erecting structures for residential or commercial purposes, stressing that the government would henceforth demolish any building on water channels without compensation.
Governor Ortom said his administration would, through the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, consider the provision of relief materials to those affected by the flood as well as provision of temporary shelter for the victims.
Places visited by the Governor during the inspection included BIPC Estate and its extension, Apaar Batur Village on Naka Road, Ishaya Bakut road and some parts of Judges Quarters.