Properties destroyed, many rendered homeless as flood ravages Abuja -

The first rainfall of the year has wreaked havoc at the Federal Housing Lugbe, with residents waking up to flooded homes, and flowing valuables.

One of the affected residents, Miss Chika Okeke, lamented that she had been rendered homeless.

“The rain started around 3 a.m. and before I knew it, my entire house was flooded. “I was still mopping up the water in the bedroom, only for me to enter the sitting room and the kitchen to find my property floating on water. My property have been destroyed now and I don’t know what to do,” she explained.

“The rain caught everybody unawares and all the houses in my area were affected,’’ she added.

Some residents also complained about the poor maintenance of refuse disposal system in the area, which blocked the drainage, resulting in flooding, calling for proper waste disposal system to tackle the problem when the rainy season fully sets in.

Another resident, Mrs Chioma Ejekwu, said, “Everywhere you look, there is a waste because people throw rubbish on the roads and in the drainage.

“The rain water then carries the waste into the streets, blocking people’s paths and drainage.

“We have environmental workers who burn the dumping sites every two weeks, which is too long because the dustbins would have become too full.’’

Ibrahim Usman, a waste disposal official, however, blamed the issue on residents who won’t pay for their waste disposal fees.

“Some people still throw their waste anywhere they feel like and that is the reason we have so much waste on the road after the rains.”

Mr. Joshua Ayodele, a civil servant, however, called on the government to institute harsher punishment for those who do not dispose their waste properly.

“If they don’t burn the waste every day, rains will continue to push it out and people will be stepping on waste as they walk.

“The government needs to provide a proper system for disposing waste in the area the way it is done in the city centre.

“Those who also dispose of waste indiscriminately should be fined or punished to act as a deterrence to others who want to do the same,’’ he added.