The Niger State Emergency Management Agency, has confirmed the death of 14 persons due to flooding of different parts of the state. The Director of the agency, Mr Garba Salisu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday, said the agency had engaged the services of no fewer than 200 local divers in the affected communities for rescue operations.
He said the local divers would complement the efforts of agency’s rescue unit whenever the need arises. Salisu appealed to residents of the state to desist from building on waterways and to stop indiscriminate dumping of refuse to reduce the effect of flooding in the state.
He urged communities experiencing gully erosion to relocate whenever the threat of flood became high.
“My major fear is that, most rains are usually at night when the people are sleeping, but the only way is to create environment for smooth flow of water,’’ he said.
The director also called on communities that are prone to flooding to as a matter of urgency, vacate the area temporarily to avoid disaster.
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