Over 150 houses submerged in Benue after heavy downpour

The six hour rain that poured on Thursday in Benue has turned out to be tragic as it left many parts of Makurdi, the Benue state capital, flooded with close to 150 houses submerged in the rain that lasted till the early hours of Friday.

The areas heavily affected included Demekpe, Wadata Rice mill, Agboughoul village, Mobile Barrack, Achusa village and Logo areas of the town.
The flood, which submerged several houses in the affected areas, reportedly swept away property of many families who battled to save them.
According to reports, the flood became more pronounced due to blocked drainages and non availability of proper drainages in some of the affected communities.
One of the victims of the devastation, in Rice Mill area and a father of three, James Ojudu, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard, said the flood took them by surprise, stressing, “we were actually not prepared for this, because we’ve not had serious rainfall in Makurdi since this year.
It will be recalled that a few weeks back, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Water Resources and Environment, Engr. Nathaniel Alaaga, had said that the state government had put measures in place to avert possible flooding of parts of the state in the event of any heavy downpour.
Benue was one of the states affected by the devastating flood of last year.

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