Flood takes over Cross River after heavy downpour

Heavy downpour on Sunday morning in Cross River State has caused havoc in the state, destroying property estimated at several millions of naira.
The rain which started as early as 9am lasted for over 8 hours and started again around 8pm till early Monday morning. Some of the areas seriously affected are Chamley, White House, Ephraim, Target and Atamunu.

Other areas include Atu, Palm Street, Mayne Avenue, Efio Ette junction, Target by Goldie, Marian by Municipal Area Council, Murtala Highway by Lemna junction, Ekpo Abasi by CRUTECH gate, Mbuka and others.
Household, cooking utensils, furniture’s, electronics, personal belongings including cash were submerged in water.
Our correspondent who monitored the rain saw some landlords trying to rescue their property that had been submerged in the flood.
A landlord at Chamley who gave his name as Peter Okon Udo said he had never seen such a rain in recent time; “The rain destroyed many of my property and that of my tenants; please tell SEMA and other government agencies to come to our rescue. Look at my house, the fence has collapsed. Where will I get money to work it now?”

It was gathered that some gutters overflowed and the force of the water entered many house, destroying property. At the time of filling this report, some people were still trying to spread their rescued property outside. Besides the destruction of personal property, the heavy downpour disrupted social, economic and political activities as all the programmed events could not take up.
Commercial vehicle operators and popular tricycles referred to as Keke could not operate and the owners claimed that they have lost several thousandS of naira. A taxi driver, Okon Akpan Udo said, “I have contribution to make, I needed to go out and make some money so that I can pay, but this rain disrupted everything,” he lamented.
Some who spoke with our Correspondent after the rain called on the State Government to work on these places to avoid more damages and possibly heavy flooding in the nearest future.
When contacted on the phone on Monday, the Director General of Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) John Inaku said he got information that there was heavy downpour on Sunday and some photographs have been taken and he expect reports and complaints from residents.

“I am not in town at the moment but we have gotten some reports about the heavy downpour. SEMA is still expecting complaints from residents to enable us go into those areas and see what we can do for them,” he stated.