Not less than 60 houses have been submerged in Orsu Obodo in Oguta Council Area of Imo State, as flood ravaged the riverine community on Friday night.

No fewer than 2000 people including, women and children have been displced following the incident.

It will be recalled that most communities in Oguta Council Area were submerged in 2012 during the flood that ravaged most part of the country.

According to some the flood victims, they had gone to bed on Friday night while it was raining heavily without any primonition that the river was going to overrun the bank.

One of them said: “We were still in bed when the water started rushing into our homes and in less than 30 minutes, the whole place was covered by water.

“We could barely savage our property as we tried to save our lives first, we were not expecting such misfortune because our farms are submerged as well”.

The lawmakerrepresenting Oguta state constituency, Frank Ugboma called for urgent intervention from relevant government authorities to resettle the displaced persons and alleviate their plight.

The lawmaker made the call on Saturday when he visited the flooded community to ascertain the level of havoc wrecked by the flood.

But Ugboma who expressed regret on the incident urged Imo state government to provide immediate succor for the displaced people.

He said Oguta has been vulnerable to flood “This is the constituency I am representing our land is a flood prone area but I assure my people that I will surely present this problem to the floor of the house”, he said.

He added : “I feel the pain of all of you and we are making effect to provide urgent succor for all of you so be assured that the government is aware of your problem”, he said.

Deputy Governor of Imo Mr Gerald Irona who accompanied the lawmaker during the assessment attributed the incident to buildings erected on the waterways in the area.

He appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA to intervene in the matter for both relief materials and other ways of assisting the flood victims.

Meanwhile, NEMA has given the total number of displaced people as two thousand, while also confirming that sixty houses were submerged in the area.

The Head of Imo/Abia operations office of NEMA Mr Evans Ugoh urged government to muster political courage to demolish some houses built on the waterways in the area.

He said, on the sport assessment of the incident proved that while sixty houses were submerged, two thousand people were also displaced. (The Nation)

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