Over two hundred homes and two thousand farmlands planted with crops such as yams, okra, melon, cocoyam and cassava in Ikom, in Cross River State, have been submerged in water following the overflow of Cross River. The property destroyed is estimated at several millions of Naira.
Areas mostly affected were Ikom town, Okuni and Agbaragba where the over 2,000 displaced persons have been evacuated to neighbouring towns and communities.
Some victims are now squatting with neighbors and relatives. The historic town of Ikom is in a mournful state as the displaced have not only lost their homes to the flood, but household property including food stuff, electronics and cash.
Our correspondent who visited the area reported that canoes in their tens were deployed to ferry victims and their property to safety. Also affected was the Okuni axis of the river where the Ikom-Calabar highway covering about 300 metres was completely submerged cutting off traffic on both sides.
Hundreds of vehicles including lorries carrying perishable goods such as tomatoes, bananas and plantain from the northern part of the country to the south and some from the south to the north were stranded, with the goods rotting away.
Economic activities as it relates to transportation and other sundry businesses have been badly affected as a result of the flooding. However, some people have cashed in on the situation to make brisk business by ferrying travelers across with high fares as much as N100 per person. The Director-General Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Vincent Aquah who carried out a rapid assessment of the disaster described the losses occasioned by the flooding as unprecedented.
He said that it was pathetic that the state was experiencing such magnitude of disaster, recalling that recently, Calabar South and Calabar Municipality were ravaged by flooding in which property worth millions of naira were lost. He expressed fear that the water which was not showing signs of receding was capable of causing more damage to property. The Director-General thanked God that so far, no report of loss of life had been made apart from livestock and property.
The chairman of the Ikom Local Government Council, Dr. Tony Ngban appealed to the state government to come to their aid as the effect of the disaster was beyond the capacity of the council to cope with. He lamented that thousands of the displaced were living in dehumanizing conditions and warranted urgent attention.
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