By Haruna Usman- Birnin Kebbi
Kebbi State government is seeking national and international interventions over perennial flash floods that so far claimed at least 30 lives, destroyed rice and other crops farmlands of over eight hundred thousand, washed away over 326 houses in the state and still counting.
The publicity chairman of Kebbi State Flood Committee and Commissioner for Information and Culture, Alhaji Yakubu Ahmed, disclosed this to newsmen in Birnin Kebbi at a press conferene.
According to him, already before the warning from NIMET, Kebbi has been battling flash floods as 16 local governments areas of the state were affected by the flood forcing households to seek refuge in makeshift camps and schools were the state government relocated them temporarily with relief materials to mitigate their loses and suffering.
He warned that lack of quick intervention from the federal government and other relevant private bodies Nationally and international may bring about acute food shortages not only in Kebbi but across the country ” we are calling on the federal government and relevant bodies to come to the aid of Kebbi as the state has been stretched almost to the limit due huge flood loses”.
Ahmed maintained that the committee has received reports from all the affected local government areas with a view to assisting them to mitigate loses caused by the ravaging floods in the state.
On part of the government, an emergency flood defence mechanism has been activated to ensure quick response to floods and the likely use of force on households who intentionally build on water ways or block water drainages to cause flood.