C'River Prepared To Mitigate Impact of Impending Flood, Says Commissioner

News Agency 

Cross River has assured that it is prepared to mitigate the impact of the impending flood in the State as predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) in its 2024 forecast.

Mr Moses Osogi, the Commissioner for Environment gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Friday.

He said that the government, being a proactive one, had done all that is necessary to ensure that the impact is reduced to the barest minimum in addition to ensuring that those in flood prone areas are safe.

He aside aside the various sensitisation programmes carriednout by the government, those in flood prone areas have been advised to move to upland.

The Commissioner noted that shelter will be provided to those affected by the movement to upland areas.

"Flood, aside being a natural occurrence, location of Cross River is such that it is exposed to this occurrence, and as a government, we have recognized this fact early enough to held to the warnings of NiMet.

"As part of efforts to mitigate the impact, we have desilted most drainage and water channels across the State for easy flow of water to the river or stream.

"Those in the riverine areas and other flood prone areas have also been advised to relocate to upland and am sure some are already moving as we speak.

"For those moving, the government, through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) is working on shelter to house them.

"Let it be known that we are nor closing our eyes in that which will make this impending natural disaster less of a burden to those that will be affected.

"We have indeed been prepared before now, but only praying for the impact to be less," he stated. 

Osogi however warned that steps will be taken by the government to address those that have built on drainage channels.

It would be recalled that the NiMet had innit annual flood outlook for 2024, showed that 148 Local Governments in 31 States fall within the high flood risk.

It further states that while 249 of the council areas fell within the moderate flood risk areas, the remaining 377 councils were within the low flood risk areas.

Simirlarly, the federal government had on Thursday announced that 21 local government areas in 10 States have been submerged by flood.

The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utserv, made the announcement in Abuja at a press briefing. 

The Minister said some states had started experiencing varying levels of flooding and its associated disasters as early as April in 2024.

He noted that most of the flood incidents recorded so far were flash/urban floods resulting from high rainfall intensities of long duration and poor and blocked drainage systems
(NAN)