Snakes, crocodiles surf as flooding takes over Community

Residents of Unagboke village, Inyimagu Azugwu community in the Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, were on Saturday sacked by flood, which also destroyed property worth millions of naira, including farm produce.

The area is a few kilometres away from the Abakaliki metropolis.

The Chairman of the village, Emmanuel Igwe, told punch correspondents, who visited the area, that the residents had been experiencing flooding in the area for decades.

Igwe said this was worsened by the abandoned drainage project at a nearby river by the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project.

According to him, the river now overflows its banks whenever there is heavy rainfall, thereby causing flooding in the area.

Igwe, who said the community had lost a lot, including houses, crops and other valuables to the flood since the rain commenced this year, called on the government to come to their rescue.

Halliday said, “The flood here is caused by heavy rainfall and we don’t have gutters that will drain the rainwater, so it has flooded the entire area and as a result, snakes, crocodiles and other dangerous animals have been entering our houses and biting people.