Residents lament as flood takes over Delta community

Forum 7 months ago

Residents lament as flood takes over Delta community

Residents of Polobubo community in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State have called on the three tiers of government and oil multinationals to come to their rescue, following a devastating flood that has submerged the community.

This was contained in a statement issued by the leadership of the community and jointly signed by Dr. Bright Abulu, President-General; Rev. Doyah Tiemo, Secretary General and Sir Chris Ukugha, the Public Relations Officer respectively, copies of which were made available to journalists in Warri on Sunday.

The community leaders described the devastation as the worst in the history of Polobubo community and appealed for urgent intervention to forestall human casualties.

“The present devastation is of epic proportion and we are obviously in an emergency situation,” they lamented.

With the development, they said, school children from two primary and secondary schools in the community had been forced to go on break, since the school buildings had been submerged in the flood.

The statement read partly, “This is the worst in the history of our community. We have lost practically everything to this flood. Unquantifiable properties have been lost and people displaced from their houses and sources of livelihood.

“The entire community and surrounding villages are submerged. We had severe flooding in 2012, but the experience was not as harrowing as this.

“The flood has completely taken over and all we can see and feel now is untold hardship and hunger steering us in the face”.

The statement continued, “Government officials from the Delta State Ministry of Environment, Special Duties and the Warri North Local Government Council came last week, but the flood had not risen to this frightening scale.

“The present devastation is of epic proportion and we are obviously in an emergency situation that the Warri North Chairman, Honourable Smart Asekutu, the Delta state Governor, RT. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, and the Federal Government and other relevant agencies should intervene to ameliorate the suffering of the people.

“Our community is very strategic to the economic interest of Nigeria and Delta State, as it plays host to major International Oil Producing Companies (IOCs) and national oil and gas companies, including Chevron Nigeria Ltd, Nigeria Exploration and Production limited (NEPL), Conoil producing Ltd, and Sahara Energy Services Limited.

“This is where they do their business and we need the help of the oil and gas companies at this time also. We are urging them to share in our plight and moments of extreme pains by ensuring that they come together with the government and act fast in coming to our rescue”.