Prepare for flooding- NEMA warn states
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said 102 local government areas (LGAs) in 28 states of the federation are more prone to flooding this year.
To mitigate the impact of the flooding in the states, the agency said it had written to the state governors to prepare.
The agency said the letter indicated the areas that would be affected, adding that it highlighted the steps to be taken to reduce the impact of the flooding.
The agency said it had commenced stockpiling food items ahead of the flooding because of the unpredictable impact of the flooding.
NEMA, while describing 2020 as a year of an incident within an incident following the outbreak of COVID-19, said managing flood disaster would be a herculean task.
The Director-General of NEMA, AVM Muhammadu Muhammed (rtd), disclosed these in Abuja yesterday while giving an update on its 2020 flood preparedness, mitigation and response.
Muhammed said: “Floods can cause widespread devastation, resulting in loss of lives and damages to property and critical public infrastructure.
“Unfortunately, 2020 is going to be a year of ‘an incident within an incident with the country battling Covid-19 pandemic, managing a flood disaster will be a herculean task.
“According to 2020, the general outlook aof annual rainfall amount is predicted to be normal to above normal in Nigeria, thus some places are expected to have above-normal rainfall which may result into floods in 2020.
“Correspondingly, the 2020 Annual Flood Outlook forecasted flooding in some parts of the country where 102 LGAs in 28 states fall within the highly probable flood risk areas, while 275 LGAs in the 36 states of the federation including the FCT fall within the moderately probable flood risk areas.”
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