Flood to affect 1m people in Adamawa in 2015 – Agency

The Adamawa Government on Friday alerted that about one million people in the state are likely to be affected by flood this year.

Mr Haruna Furo, the Permanent Secretary and Chairman, Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency, raised the alarm in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.

Furo confirmed that the state office of the agency received a warning message from the National Hydrological Centre that some local government areas of the state would be seriously affected with flood in 2015.

“The National Hydrological Centre have called our attention that about nine local government areas of the state mostly along the bank of River Benue are likely to face a devastating flood this year.

“In fact the possibility flood risk and threat for this year is more concern compared to that of 2012,” said the official.

Furo said that among the predicted areas to be affected included Fufore, Yola South, Yola North, Girei and Demsa.
Others, he said, were Numan, Lamurde, Guyuk and Shelleng local government areas.

He recalled that in 2012 over 500,000 people were affected while many lost their lives and property worth billions of Naira destroyed by the flood.

The chairman warned that more than one million people would likely be displaced if precautionary measures were not taken in time.
According to him, the areas to be affected are the most populated areas in the state.

The scribe, however, said that the agency would summon an emergency meeting with the stakeholders to find lasting solution.

The development is coming as hundreds of thousands of people of the state were yet to recover from the devastations caused by Boko Haram attacks.

NAN recalls that Adamawa was among the most hit states in the 2012 flood disaster.