Flood renders many Benin residents homeless

Many residents of Benin have been rendered homeless following several hours of heavy down pour on Saturday.

A trip round the Edo state capital reveals that several houses have been submerged by the flood and others destroyed.

While only a few part of the city was spared by the flood, the areas worst hit include most parts of the GRA, 1st East Circular, Ekehuan Road, Sakponba Road, Erediauwa, off Sapele Road, Okhoro as well as Ugbowo areas of the city.

Apart from the destruction and submerging of houses, several cars were also destroyed by the flood.

Residents who are still busy scooping water from their homes have continued to lament over the destruction of their properties by the flood.

Some of the flood victims interviewed painted a gloomy future if they are not assisted by the federal and state governments to recover some of their losses.

Moses Izekor, while describing the situation as pathetic, said they watched hopeless as the flood completely submerged their house and destroyed properties.

Izekor who resides in Erediauwa, off Sapele Road, blamed the flood in the area to the newly constructed road with poor water channels.

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“When this road was being constructed, we complained about the way the channelling of the flood was being carried out, but nobody listened to us. This is just about the first heavy rain this year and see what we are already experiencing,” he stated.

Also Uwadiac Osagie, a resident of Edosonwan around Ugbor, GRA, said residents of the area were all trapped in their homes by the flood.

He said if not for the intervention of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), they would now be narrating a different story.

The situation was not different with Mr. Osazuwa Ighodaro, living in Erie, off Sakponba Road, whose building caved in under the impact of the flood.

However, the government has attributed the flood to non adherence to building regulation and indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drainages.

Special Adviser on Spacial Duties to the governor, Mr. Yakubu Gowon, stated this while going round to assess the level of damage caused by the flood.