Bayelsa Flood: Bayelsa govt announces 96 deaths in eight LGAs

The Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency (BYSEMA), has announced that the 2022 flooding has killed 96 people across the eight local government areas of the state.

Bayelsans including the state government, political leaders and traditional rulers had taken a swipe at the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouq over what they described as “unscientific assessment” which stated that Bayelsa was not among the 10 most impacted states in Nigeria.

However in an official data released by BYSEMA, its Chairman, Hon Walman Samuel Igrubia disclosed that 96 people were killed by the flood.

A breakdown indicated that Yenagoa Local Government has the highest number of 26 deaths, followed by Ekeremor with 18 deaths, while Ogbia has 14 deaths. Sagbama and Kolokuma/ Opokuma had 11 deaths each, while Southern Ijaw and Nembe had eight and seven deaths respectively and Brass recorded a lone death.

According to him a total of 1,344,014 persons have so far been directly affected by this year’s ravaging flood in Bayelsa State.

Igrubia, who said collation of data from the field were still ongoing, said as at Friday November 4, 1,210,183 people have been displaced said the heavy flooding affected a number of farmlands, school buildings, health structures and other facilities.

He also stated that the flooding affected several communities across the entire 8 Local Government Areas of the State.

Hon. Igrubia, made it clear that the preliminary reports and data available to SEMA and other agencies indicated that Bayelsa State remained the most flood impacted among states in the country.

The SEMA boss stated that he was delighted to hear that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, has now acknowledged the fact that Bayelsa State is in the league of top ten most impacted states.

Meanwhile Governor Douye Diri has set up a Directorate of Flood and Erosion Control to help in the mitigation of the natural disaster in the state.

Diri who announced this during the presentation of the 2023 Appropriation Budget tagged “Budget of Sustainable Reconstruction” to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly said the establishment of the Directorate is one of the measures to control flooding in the state.