NEMA Urges People In Flood Prone Areas To Harvest, Relocate
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advised people in flood vulnerable areas in Anambra to consider moving to upland ahead of possible flooding in the state.
Mr Thickman Taminu, the Coordinator of NEMA, Enugu Zonal Office said this in an interview with journalists in Awka on Tuesday.
Taminu said the prediction on flooding in Anambra by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency was still valid and that the danger of flooding was not fully averted in the state.
He said there were two waves of flooding that were experienced annually, that while the one that was going on now was the heavy rain induced category, the one that occurred as a result of overflow of rivers by waters running into the Ocean was looming.
The NEMA official said people farming and living in the flood exposed areas should carry out their harvesting on time and move up to higher planes to avoid loss from of lives and destruction of produce.
According to him, what we experience now is floods that come from rain and disappear almost immediately but the one that comes from overflow of rivers and dams is still coming as predicted by NIMET.
“So, we advise people to consider early harvest and relocation to higher land to minimise losses,” he said.
Taminu however said the Federal Government through NEMA had not received invitation from Anambra Government to either come and access the situation or intervene on flood related challenges.
He said Anambra Emergency Management Agency was the lead response agency in the state and that NEMA would move in whenever it was invited by the state to come and assess the flood situation.
He said there was a need for timely appreciation to enable NEMA to take proactive measures that would lead to early intervention.
