IN one of his numerous hit albums, Expensive Shit, released in 1975, late Afro-Beat King, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, sang that water had no enemy. In a long melodious and soul-stirring lyrics, Fela justified why water has no enemy. Till the date, and 43 years after, the song has remained evergreen. However, it may be difficult to convince victims of recurring rainstorm and flood disasters in Nigeria that water has no enemy. To some of them, the gathering of clouds portends danger and sends shivers down their spines.
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/rains-of-fury-nigeria-loses-141-lives-to-rainstorm-flood-in-201
In one of his numerous hit albums, Expensive Shit, released in 1975, late Afro-Beat King, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, sang that water had no enemy. In a long melodious and soul-stirring lyrics, Fela justified why water has no enemy. Till the date, and 43 years after, the song has remained evergreen. However, it may be difficult to convince victims of recurring rainstorm and flood disasters in Nigeria that water has no enemy. To some of them, the gathering of clouds portends danger and sends shivers down their spines.
IN one of his numerous hit albums, Expensive Shit, released in 1975, late Afro-Beat King, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, sang that water had no enemy. In a long melodious and soul-stirring lyrics, Fela justified why water has no enemy. Till the date, and 43 years after, the song has remained evergreen. However, it may be difficult to convince victims of recurring rainstorm and flood disasters in Nigeria that water has no enemy. To some of them, the gathering of clouds portends danger and sends shivers down their spines.
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/rains-of-fury-nigeria-loses-141-lives-to-rainstorm-flood-in-2018/
IN one of his numerous hit albums, Expensive Shit, released in 1975, late Afro-Beat King, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, sang that water had no enemy. In a long melodious and soul-stirring lyrics, Fela justified why water has no enemy. Till the date, and 43 years after, the song has remained evergreen. However, it may be difficult to convince victims of recurring rainstorm and flood disasters in Nigeria that water has no enemy. To some of them, the gathering of clouds portends danger and sends shivers down their spines.
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/rains-of-fury-nigeria-loses-141-lives-to-rainstorm-flood-in-2
Since January, this year, no fewer than 141 lives have been lost to rainstorm, wind storm and flood disasters across the country with at least 19,369 persons displaced on account of their 5,732 houses and sources of livelihood among others destroyed. Saturday Vanguard’s checks showed that the rainstorm and flood disaster in 2018 is the worst in the last six years after the 2012 floods that killed 363 people, displaced 2.1 million people and affected seven million people in 30 of the 36 states of the country, according to the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.
The economic losses in 2012 were put at N2.5 trillion. The seriousness of the 2012 flooding, referred to as the most harmful in the last 40 years, was attributed to a combination of two events: very heavy local rainfall and the release of excess water from the Lagdo Dam in neighbouring Republic of Cameroon. Affected states So far, floods have ravaged 27 states this year. The states are Cross River, Enugu, Kwara, Lagos, Imo, Kogi, Ondo, Jigawa, Taraba, Rivers, Katsina, Gombe, Imo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Anambra, Niger, Katsina, Adamawa, Delta, Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Enugu and Osun. Given that Nigeria is still in the rainy season with flooding being a recurring feature since 2012, all hands must be on deck to mitigate the effects of the raging rains of fury. Recurring flood disasters In 2013, heavy rains and floods, which started in mid-July affected more than 81,500 people across Nigeria. Almost 8,000 people were displaced and more than 6,500 homes were damaged. As of September 11, 2013, 19 deaths had been recorded and 2,217 farmlands were destroyed
In 2015, heavy rains, compounded by the breakdown of dams in some states, caused floods in 11 states across Nigeria in August and September. According to the National Orientation Agency, NOA, 53 people died, 100,420 people were displaced and a lot of buildings and houses were swept away. In 2016, the Director, Disaster Risk Reduction Department of NEMA, Alhassan Nuhu, said no fewer than 100 people died from flooding. According to the UN, 9,000 houses were completely destroyed. The number of livestock lost was about 26,000. At least, 38 people became victims of flood in Nigeria and more than 92, 000 were without shelters. And in 2017, NEMA said that 27 states experienced devastating flood disasters, in which no fewer than 90 people died. Ignored warnings On May 11, 2018, the Nigeria Hydrological Agency, NHSA, released the 2018 flood outlooks in 35 states of the country. The outlook projected that Sokoto, Niger, Benue, Anambra, Ogun-Osun, Cross River and Yobe states would have high risks of river flooding. It also indicated that Lagos, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, and Ondo states may experience coastal flooding. It attributed this to a likely rise in the sea level and tidal surge, which would impact fishing and coastal transportation. The outlook, which is a yearly projection by the agency, further indicated that flash and urban flood were expected to occur in Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Yola, Abuja, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Calabar, Jos, Owerri, Osogho and Ilorin. Others are Awka, Abakaliki, Birnin-Kebbi, Kano, Yenogoa, Abeokuta, Ado-Ekiti, Lokoja, Lafia, Nsukka, Gombe, Suleja, Karu, Nyanya, Abaji, Onitsha, Sapele, Hadejia and other major cities with poor drainage.
The Minister of Water Resource, Suleiman Adamu, presented the outlook. He explained that going by the 2018 AFO, water levels on the River Niger and Benue among other major river system, would rise and remain high during the rainy season. He raised concern that some dams in the country are getting silted up, with the storage capacity also reducing. He said this would cause a lot of the water to be spilled through the waterways. Also, on July 15, the Nigeria Meterological Agency, NiMet, warned that many parts of the country were likely to experience flooding due to a shift in rainfall pattern caused by climate change. The Director-General of NiMet, Prof. Sani Mashi, while giving the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, said that distortions had occurred in the pattern of rainfall leading to variation in the amount of rain expected in the country. He explained that in line with NiMet’s 2018 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction, SRP, so much water would be made available on the surface between the last week of July and end of August. According to him, once it rains, the ground cannot comfortably contain and absorb the water making it to run-off and resulting in so much water on the surface. “Unless adequate provision is made to accommodate the amount of water that is running on the surface, definitely the likelihood of flood is going to be very high, especially in the areas that are adjoining the riverine locations,’’ he warned. Were these warnings heeded? Saturday Vanguard’s checks indicate that the warnings were only partially heeded. Drainage channels were blocked and the cases of people building houses on flood plains persist. It was therefore, not surprising that the floods wreaked heavy damages in many parts of the country.
Smilehopego together we go