The National Emergency Management Agency issued a press release today,
advising States to immediately evacuate communities along the river
Niger, due to intense rainfall and rise in water level that could lead
to severe and disastrous flooding. The statement read,
Following intense rainfall and rises in water level, the National
Emergency Management Agency has advised communities along the river
Niger to evacuate immediately to safer ground over the likelihood of
floods that may occur at any moment from now. DG of NEMA, M. Sani Sidi
said the agency has received alerts of the flood from information given
by the authorities in the Republic of Niger that the present water level
in the river has reached a point that may result in the flood that
could be compared with the unfortunate experience of 2012.
“Niger
Basin Authority (NBA) notified Nigeria that rainy season, which started
in the Middle Niger (Burkina Faso and Niger Republic) in June, 2016, has
led to a gradual rise of the level of River Niger in Niamey, Niger
Republic. This high level of water in Niger Republic is already
spreading to Benin Republic, and invariably, to Nigeria”.
The level of water in all the hydrological monitoring stations across
the country, as at Friday, 5th August, 2016, have already exceeded the
corresponding values at that time, which is an alarming situation that
requires the prompt and coordinated action of all governments and
stakeholders. “If the heavy rainfall continues in intensity and duration
within these regions of the River Niger, it is imminent that flood
situation similar to that of the year 2012 may occur.”
All stakeholders should take necessary actions in line with their
various mandates. The states and local government are to ensure
observance with the threat in order to avert imminent loss of lives and
properties that might certainly arise in the event of flood. States
along the river Niger belts are the most vulnerable as well as those
along its major tributaries that includes Benue river belts , the
confluence states and downstream to the Atlantic Coast.
Nema’s Zonal and Operation offices have been instructed to continue
with advocacy visit to the state governments, and will urge them to
utilize the flood vulnerability maps given to them earlier by NEMA to
identify safer ground for temporary shelters in time of evacuation as
well as reviewing all their contingency plans.