A ravaging flood caused by a heavy downpour on Monday has damaged a bridge linking Borno and Yobe highways, killing four people.
The downpour also displaced more than 7,000 households in communities around the boundaries shared by the two states.
The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (YOSEMA) said the most affected communities are those in the Gulani and Gujba council areas.
READ: Flood Kills A Police Officer, Two Others In Yobe
The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Mohammed Goje, told HumAngle that the destroyed bridge was located near Katarko on the highway that links Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, with Biu town in Borno State.
Goje said most of the affected victims have been evacuated and were camped in some of the nearby public schools.
He also said lives were lost in the disaster. “The impacts of the reported flooding have assumed a threatening proportion, resulting in the loss of lives and properties,” he noted.
Goje added: “Over 11 communities in Gulani and one in Gujba town were affected by flooding as a result of a heavy downpour. The flooding has led to the displacement of thousands of households across 11 communities in the two LGAs. Livestock and food reserves worth millions of Naira were swept away by the flood.
“Unfortunately, four persons have been reported dead, including a police officer, while scores of others were injured.
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“The affected four communities (Gulani, Bara, Gagure and Njibulwa) were rendered inaccessible as the main bridge linking the town has been damaged and washed away because of the flooding.”
Meanwhile, the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, has directed SEMA to mobilise resources and intensify efforts to bring “immediate relief to the affected communities while alternate routes should be opened to support the movement of inaccessible communities.”
Some of the evacuated survivors recalled that such devastating flooding was last experienced in the late 70s “when a major bridge around Bara was demolished in raging water that left hundreds of people displaced and graveyards washed away.”
