6,000 displaced, 13 villages flooded

By Tina Akannam

Dutse—TWO days  rainstorm has displaced no fewer than 6000 persons in three local government councils of Jigawa State, with Taura local government being the worst hit, where about 13 villages were completely flooded.

Chairman of the council, Alhaj Suleiman Dauda Taura, told Vanguard that 1,351 households were affected while 2,057 women including widows and divorcees were affected.
According to him, a total of 2,542 rooms had been destroyed in Taura local government alone, lamenting that all the farmlands in all the affected areas had been submerged by the flood while hundreds of animals and birds were lost.
No life was however lost.

Alhaji Taura said since the flood, the local government had expended over N1.5 million on foodstuffs, blankets, plates and mats for the victims.
He said: ‘The situation is very pathetic in three villages namely, Chukuta, Katarika and Chakwaikwaiwa   where all their farmlands were submerged, animals and birds worth millions of naira were also submerged.”

Taura said the state committee on flood disaster headed by the state deputy governor, Alhaji Ahmed Mahmoud and officials of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, had visited some of the affected areas and promised to assist victims.
Similarly, in Ringim local government and Hadeija town, the flood destroyed over 2,000 houses and displaced over 3,000 persons.
Farmlands of all the affected areas were also destroyed in the disaster.

At the time of this report, in Taura local government, hundreds of families displaced  by the flood had taken refuge in primary schools and mosques in the area.