Edwin Eze sat idly in front of his shop, grimacing slightly. It was in the last week of October and the waters that submerged his shop had receded. He looked around to estimate the level of destruction recorded after floods submerged his shop and ravaged sections of the Onitsha Main Market in Anambra State, Nigeria’s South-east. Regarded as one of the largest markets in West Africa, Onitsha Main Market sits at the bank of River Niger. But in September, the market was submerged in water.
“We were living from hand to mouth for over one month,” said Mr Eze, a father of five. “I lost goods worth over N2.1 million to the flood.” John Ojinnika, a shop owner who sells second-hand clothes, told PREMIUM TIMES in October that most of the goods affected were the ones being stored for the forthcoming Christmas sales season. He added that he lost over N500, 000 to the flood incident.
But when the waters submerged the harbor, many of the companies were flooded, forcing them to shut down operations for weeks. Mr Obi blamed the government for its “silence” since the flood occurred. He also claimed that the Bank of Industry where industrialists would have gone for loans to revive their companies do not respond to loan requests from “ordinary Nigerians.”
“So, the flood also swallowed them,” Mr Ezejiofor said, adding that the industry was hoping to repair some of them as soon as the flood completely disappears. Chuks Ezejelue, the procurement manager of the company, struggled to hold back his tears as he took this reporter around to show the level of destruction in the industry.“It affected us seriously. A lot of things were damaged, raw materials were swept away. Our machines too. I just don’t know how we are going to cope because a lot of things were damaged.”
“Both rice and machines were completely inside the water before. We are now pushing the water outside with pumping machines,” Mr Nnamani said.Anambra, like several other states in the country, experienced devastating floods between September and October. The flood incidents affected seven of the 21 local government areas in the state.
“My yam farmland, about 18 plots, was swept away. Even my cassava farmland, about 15 plots of land, the same fate befell it,” he said. “As flood spoiled everything now, prices of food items have increased. A very small tuber of yam I bought yesterday was sold at N600. Before, you could get that size of yam at N150 or N200,” he said.
At the early state, he said he relied on a canoe to ferry himself in and out of the palace. But when the flood increased and submerged his palace, he took to his heels and sought refuge in another community. The monarch, also a farmer, lamented that his yam farmland had been washed off completely by the flood.
“My pain is that the farmlands did better this year. We would have had bumper harvests. But everything has been destroyed, even my cattle. My children and I were almost caught by the flood before we escaped.” Some of the flood victims at the camp accused the camp officials of hoarding relief materials brought by government officials and churches. But Mr Nduka, the camp official, denied it, insisting that relief materials brought to the camp were equitably shared to the victims.
“Thank God you have seen things with your own eyes. They are occupying three classrooms. So, we had to merge pupils in the remaining classes,” Anthonia Atunonu, the headmistress of the school, told PREMIUM TIMES.Women, Children Most Affected, PREMIUM TIMES observed that women and their children were the most affected by the flood disaster.
Mr Ibezim, a medical doctor, said the initiative was considered necessary after a “minor cholera” outbreak occurred in the state which was immediately tackled.