Flood ravages Calabar communities, destroys property worth over N50m

By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR

Residents of Arab and Atimbo communities in Calabar Municipality Local Government Area of Cross River State are counting their losses after torrential rainfall triggered flooding that destroyed property estimated at over N50 million.

The flood, which followed hours of heavy downpour, submerged more than 100 houses, forcing residents to evacuate their homes and make frantic efforts to rescue their families and belongings.

Items destroyed by the floodwaters included furniture, valuable documents, clothes, books, certificates, kitchen utensils, air conditioners, fans, sound systems and other household property.

The Chairman of Arab community, Ntufam Alphonsus Alphonsus, who sympathised with affected residents, lamented that repeated appeals to relevant authorities to address the recurring flooding in the area had yielded no result.

“We really sympathise with families who have lost their properties today because of the heavy rainfall, which has destroyed properties, in my estimation, worth N50 million.

“The community leadership has been doing everything within its power to engage the government to come and do something here in Arab, but that has not materialised.

“Unfortunately, year in year out, we continue to live at the mercy of God and the flood without government assistance that would have helped the situation,” he said.

The retired civil servant said he had been away from his residence since the early hours of the incident after residents alerted him to the flooding.

“I have been out of my house since morning when some residents called my attention and so far, more than a hundred houses have been flooded. If you estimate the loss of their properties, it will be nothing less than N50 million,” he added.

One of the victims, a furniture maker, Richard Fomba, recounted how his family narrowly escaped after floodwater suddenly entered their home.

“Water entered even up to the room of my children and it was God who made my wife to go in and notice it before gathering them on top of my bed,” he said.

Fomba explained that the flooding occurred without warning, as water quickly spread from the sitting room to the bedrooms before residents could respond.

Residents have appealed to Governor Bassey Edet Otu to urgently intervene by constructing proper drainage channels to address the persistent flooding in the communities.

They described the situation as an annual occurrence that has continued to cause hardship for residents due to the absence of a lasting solution.

The affected residents also called on the state government and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide relief materials to cushion the impact of the disaster on affected families.