Torrential rainfall: Looking beyond crash interventions in flood management
Warnings on the dangers of flooding have definitely not been out of place recently, to give ample chance for governments in Nigeria to prepare to forestall mishaps. It is however, a sorry reflection the narrative that despite the projections of torrential rainfall with red flags hinting of the necessity to prepare against flooding, the response of governments, at different levels, have not been profound enough in some quarters to avoid mishap.
Following torrential downpours, over 200 households have been reportedly affected by the recent flood that hit parts of Makurdi, the Benue State capital. According to report, the flood which submerged houses and swept away properties and valuables also left many displaced. On update on the situation on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, the Executive Secretary of Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Emmanuel Shior who had led his team on on-the-spot assessment of the development in Makurdi, said “so far we have recorded 200 households that were affected by the flood on Naka Road, Achussa, Utu Phase One, Kucha Utebe, Rice Mill and others: But the flooding is not as bad as it used to be. The water that came over a week ago receeded, so we are monitoring the situation. The households I mentioned are still there in their houses because the water has receeded. That notwithstanding, we are still closely monitoring the situation.
“Benue State Government has a standing committee on flood. It is made up of Benue SEMA, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Lands, Urban Development Board, Benue State Environmental and Sanitation Agency, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Agriculture, academics from Benue State University and consultants from the private sector; and we are all working together to provide mitigation.
“We know that flood as a natural incident and as a challenge that is perennial in Benue here cannot be said to be totally stopped. We can only work together with stakeholders and other line MDAs to put measures in place to mitigate it. When it happens we provide effective and rapid response. So even before now, a month ago to be precise, Benue SEMA activated the sensitisation measure. But above that, we are working together with other MDAs to also make arrangements for victims.
“Because usually when flood occurs, there will be victims. And for this reason we are also expanding our camps. And in places like Agatu, the IDPs we have there live with their relatives there; that is the practice in that area. But we have also factored all of them for the purpose of our intervention. We have said that people that are already affected should leave their homes and pack out. We have already provided hotlines; and for those who might be in danger and may need quick response we are available and willing to attend to them 24 hours of the day.”
The mishap cannot be said to have come unexpected as it has always been a recurrent phenomenon in certain parts of the Country, some even annually. More so, projections with warnings calling governments to be proactive to prevent mishaps from the incidents have been earlier made known. The right attitude should have been raising architecture before hand in areas of threats. The apparent passive response to the warnings have seen records of losses taking toll in some parts of the Country.
Recall that projections of more incidents of flooding have been given to further take course earlier this year. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted excessive rainfall in Northern states of Nigeria, including Katsina, Borno, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi and Adamawa, which is likely to make them experience flooding in August, September and October this year. The Director-General of the agency, Professor Mansur Matazu, while addressing journalists at NiMet’s headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday, 16th August 2022, had further mentioned that parts of Kebbi, Zamfara, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Taraba and Yobe States may face medium risk of experiencing flooding within the same period. Matazu also identified the South-Western states of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and parts of Ekiti and Edo States in South-South as areas likely to experience normal to abnormal rainfall within the same period.
In reaction to the projection, NewsDirect had warned in an earlier Editorial on August 26, 2022 that: “It is indisputable that it is only by proactive disposition to raise response mechanisms that the incidence of disasters can be prevented from projected heavy downpours. Such response much be overarching and systemic.
“It is essential for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as well as the Emergency Management Agencies of the states, particularly those highlighted above in the projections, to intensify adaptation, mitigation and other response mechanisms to foreclose eventualities of flood disasters that may lead to human and economic losses. The necessity to commence and/or strengthen, as the case may be, awareness campaigns is pertinent. Leveraging response strategies by engaging field extension workers for possible response activities in preparation, particularly for high risk areas is pertinent. Insensitivity to the significance of hydrological and meteorological, as well as urban and physical planning architectures, have been noted to be responsible for major environmental disasters in the country, particularly flooding, experienced recurrently across states in the country. To prevent the occurrences of mishaps from such disasters as flooding, critical attention must be paid to the mechanisms of these architectures, while displaying responsiveness to building these structures remains pertinent. Such responsiveness demands conscious efforts that must be sustained and developed for a long lasting solution to the problem of flooding, among other disasters.
“It is pertinent, however, to note that only an architecture of overarching response system is required to manage the projected heavy downpour to avert incidence of flooding disasters,” the editorial had partly read.
NewsDirect maintains its stand that the need for all levels of government to rise to their responsibilities has become pertinent, as the firm management for torrential floods not to record fatalities of grave losses, depends on how responsive each level of government is to its responsibilities. It is the respective commitment of each with concerted linkages in a broad architecture that would afford the firmness of an overarching framework to avoid fatalities and grave loses which have always coloured torrential rainfall.
In the short run, while torrential downpours are still according to projections, much expected in some parts of the country, mustering efforts for precaution, safety, and management measures to avert any mishap is pertinent, while in the long term, developing the requisite infrastructure to control flooding is pertinent.
More important, it is now essential for states across the federation to turn critical attention to the demands of urban and physical planning in city development, bearing in mind the necessity to meet best standards. This is sacrosanct to change the prevailing disposition of indiscriminate and haphazard city development culture, clustered with poor planning mechanisms and unpatterned-random constructions which have formed circumstances making control of flooding clustered with bottlenecks.
