Flood has ravaged three villages of Ikot Uduak, Akai Efa and Etab Ayip Kasuk in Calabar, the Cross River state capital.
The flood came as a result of a heavy down pour on Wednesday which continued until the early hours of Thursday, destroying over 500 houses and property worth billions of naira in its wake.
Speaking with DAILY POST on Thursday, the Head of Kasuk Qua Clan, Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, His Royal Highness (HRH) Ntoe Edemedem Okon Ayito 111, lamented the level of destruction quantifying it in billions of naira.
Narrating the situation, Ayitoe said, “It’s that rain that fell on Wednesday and early part of today (Thursday) that destroyed our properties and entered our houses, over 500 houses have been affected.
“We started having this issue since 2013 when a Sematech constructed Jonathan by-pass. The company, instead of constructing bridges, they constructed ring and small culverts, these culverts cannot carry the volume of water that came in from Efio-Ete junction which is the only channel that allows water to flow to the Idundu River.
“As you can see, today’s one is more than usual, the whole communities are submerged in water because of the blockage of the channel, the water cannot flow, all the channels are blocked, the water now is in this side, it cannot flow to other side to the river.
“In 2013, we protested but up till now nothing has been done. Even though no live was lost but properties including electronics, buildings, furniture, cash, cooking utensils and other personal properties have been destroyed” he said while appealing to government for assistance.
Also speaking, a resident in Etab Ayip Kasuk Village, Chief Okokon Ita, 52 a father of five children said, “I have stayed here for over 10 years, what happened is that the State government had the plan of decongest Calabar metropolis, so they decided to come and open this area, Airport by pass road so that cars coming in from Airport can pass through here to Odukpani and other places.
“The company that came, Sematech began to block the existing drainages by using laterite. They also blocked water passages, that is natural water ways which water suppose to pass through and link to Idundu River, we complained for seven years now, nothing was done.
“Recently, when President Buhari came to commission a project at Mfamansing, cement plant, there was erosion threat in the road, we wake up one morning and notice that there was over 20-30 tippers of sand pilled close to one of those culverts, they used it to block the culverts, that was evacuating water to the River, this was the result of the flood around here whenever it rains for over 2-3 hours.”
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