10 IDP Camps Opened In Delta, As 19 LGAs Go Under Flood

The Delta State Government has opened 10 camps to accommodate Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) impacted by the flood in 19 out of 25 Local Government Areas of the state.

The Director-General, State Orientation Bureau, Mr Eugene Uzum, said this at a news conference on the government efforts to save lives and properties in the wake of the ravaging flood across the state on Friday in Asaba.

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Uzum said that in addition to the 10 established IDP camps, Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) built two camps in the Warri axis to augment.
According to Uzum, DESOPADEC is also opening blocked drains in the area to enable water flow in order to mitigate the impact on the communities.

He noted that the situation has become pathetic and worrisome that some of the impacted communities had been invaded by reptiles; snakes and crocodiles.

Uzum called on the Federal Government, corporate organisations and charitable individuals to come to the people’s aid and provide relief materials to ameliorate their sufferings at this auspicious time.

He said while the immediate intervention is to save the impacted persons, their families and their properties, the Federal Government should build new dams along the coastal areas to ensure a more permanent solution to the yearly flooding.

“The government has also opened up distribution centres at various locations to take the relief materials from the Federal Government, corporate organisations and individuals to support the displaced persons.

“The people have started enrolling at the various camps and I must say that the challenge has been critical and it’s going to be more than that of 2012.”

He added that his agency was working in collaboration with the traditional rulers, political aides, and president generals of the impacted communities to identify the vulnerable persons.

“As we speak, all the eight LGAs in Delta South; six LGAs in Delta North and five LGAs in Delta Central Senatorial Districts have been taken over by flood.

“Presently, we have both short and long-term solutions to this problem of yearly flooding; the current intervention to save lives and properties is one.

“The long-term solution has to do with the dredging of the River Benue and the River Niger as well and build the needed dams to take away the large volume of the water that flows across the impacted states.

“So, we are appealing to the Federal Government, corporate organisations and individuals to give their support to the impacted communities in the state,” Uzum said.

Uzum, however, said there had not been an official recorded report of death due to the flooding in the state.

Currently, only six states out of the 25 LGAs in Delta have not been impacted by the flood.