When rains bring tears to Northern communities

It was unlike the usual tragedy that comes after a heavy downpour in this parts of the country. The devastation this year, in the words of government officials in the four affected states, “was monumental”.  Two lives were said to have been lost yesterday in Giyawa village of Goronyo local government area of Sokoto state […]

It was unlike the usual tragedy that comes after a heavy downpour in this parts of the country. The devastation this year, in the words of government officials in the four affected states, “was monumental”.  Two lives were said to have been lost yesterday in Giyawa village of Goronyo local government area of Sokoto state when flood swept through it after an early morning down pour that lasted about an hour. The rampaging flood also killed an undisclosed number of livestock including cattle, camels, goats and sheep in its wake, while also destroying several hectares of farms and other property.

Unlike the situation in Giyawa, Sokoto State, no life was lost in Shanono local government area of Kano state however, torrential rains which began about 2 am on August 10, 2010, lasting more than 10 hours into the next day, left incalculable damage and widespread destruction throughout the 10 wards that make up that part of the federal constituency.

Local officials told Weekly Trust that an interim report has shown that a total of 1,610 rooms or 957 houses were destroyed in the disaster and that hundreds of people have been displaced. “More reports of the extent of the damage will be filed in,” Inuwa Kilishi, the HOD, Community Development Department of the local government, said.

The officer listed places such as Shanono, Tsauri, Dutsen Bakoshi Kokiya to have been the worst hit, with records of severe damages.

At Kan Dutse, one of the areas in Shanono township that was badly hit by the devastating flood, many houses lay flat as rubbles, while most of their occupants had taken refuge in the town’s vocational centre. Very few families have started rebuilding their homes here.

The residents told Weekly Trust that the heavy rains started while the town\s inhabitants had gone to asleep. “The rain kept falling until when we started noticing an unusual stream of water inside our rooms,” recalls 30-year-old Abdullahi Mohammed Dango, whose family house of 10-rooms apartment was washed away by the flood.

The rising water level in their living rooms woke most of the residents and then put them on their guard. But even at that, the thought of building collapse did not occur to them, so they remained indoors and tried to bail out the water that was fast accumulating in their rooms.

After hours of torrential rains, the unexpected occurred; the predominantly mud houses started collapsing “before their own eyes” and by the time they emerged from the rubble, the compound was already waterlogged. “I waded through the pool to my family’s and parents’ apartments and rescued our young ones. I could only toss them over the fence, because a lot of water had already gathered, making free movement to the door practically impossible for me,” Mohammed said.

Mallam Hassan Yahaya, 55 and ten members of his family are sheltering in the government owned vocational centre since the incident. They formed part of the people who were displaced by the rains. Looking dejected though, the old man talked less of his 8-room apartment which he said he inherited from his 110-years-old late father, his food stock in silos, goats and dozens of domestic birds that perished in the flood than he did about government’s consistent poor response  to their plight.    

“I was given three loaves of bread and three leather mats to share with my family as relief materials by the local government officials the day we arrived here. Since then, none of the officials have come to find out how we are faring,” he lamented.

A pregnant Jummai Isiaku of Kan Dutse, who is also taking refuge in the centre said: “our major problem at the moment is that we have no food to eat, all our clothing including children’s school uniforms have been lost to the flood disaster and unfortunately, the local government only gave three loaves of bread and three leather mats to each household.

“We are please, appealing to the government and well to do in the society to please, come to our aid as our husbands are mostly farmers and everyone knows that this is usually a very hard time for farmers as crops are yet to be harvested,” said Jummai.

Interestingly, the victims now live like a family in the camp as they share every little thing anyone of them gets. “We now relate more closely with each other even better than we did prior to the incident. We eat from the same pot and share whatever we have with one another here in the camp,” said Ramatu Aliyu.

Umma Hassan is a divorcee in her early twenties, she described the loss incurred in the disaster as capable of hindering her plans to remarry as all her property have been destroyed.  “My appeal is that the wealthy in the society should come to our aid by assisting us with means to rebuild our houses and return and for me in particular, someone should please assist me with beddings and other needs to enable me accomplish my mission. God knows that I hate to remain unmarried,” she pleaded.

As extensive as the effect of the flood is, so is the criticism of government for the poor response to the victims. At Jaulare, one of the worst hit communities populated by Fulanis, the cry is high just as the destruction is obvious. Inspite of its two kilometre proximity to Shanono local government secretariat and nearness to a major road, this community has not received even one loaf of bread from government since the incident occurred.

Therefore, even motorists plying the nearby road could assess the degree of damage done to this settlement. All the houses in the community have been submerged, with only their cone-shaped zinc roofs perching like caps on rubbles. Half a dozen cattle were tied firmly to trees, reminiscent of an uncountable sheep, goats, guinea fowls and other animals that perished or lost in the destructive downpour. Nearly all the women and children in the settlement have been moved to a primary school, roughly half a kilometre away. But some adult males and a few kids still hang around the rubble, keeping vigil on what used to be their world. The place gives a look of a scene after an intense aerial bombardment.  

Inside one of the rooms laying in ruins, the community members were able to extricate an old grinding machine which Musa said is very material, especially at this period, because they use it to process the little charity that comes from people around the area. “If we grind it here, we take it to our families at the school to prepare meals,” the worried old man added.

The only well supplying the community with water was closed after the incident due to contamination as the victims say everything in the vicinity, including their houses, were submerged under the water from the 24-hour rain. They access clean drinking water only when they go to Shanono township. “The deputy governor paid us a visit nine days after the incident and pledged to assist us,” Musa recalled.  

He added that the local government chairman also visited them once, but since then, neither he nor the aid he promised has reached them.

On why the delay to provide assistance to the victims, the head of Community Development Department of the local government council, Inuwa Kilishi, said the council is trying to come up with an actual assessment of the situation and identify the genuine victims in order to avoid channelling the relief materials to the wrong people.  

He said the 10 wards of the local government have been affected with four classified as the “most seriously affected” ones.  He also said the council has so far compiled a list of victims completely displaced by the rain and will also embark on the distribution of materials to them, saying that a report of the situation has been forwarded to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Like the situation in Shanono, thousands of people were displaced in Ringim local government area of Jigawa by a devastating floodthat ravaged about 25 villages destroying property worth billions of naira in the process.

The affected villages include Dabi, Yakasawa Tudu, Yakasawa-Kwari, Waro, Dutsin, Dingare, Wailare, Lanyoyal, Tsungur and  Gabarin. Others are; Gujaba Gallamawai, Dusukum, Yandutse and Madachi.

Our correspondent observed that the entire residents of Yakasawa Kwari village were completely sacked by the flood which washed away farmlands and other valuables.

It was also tales of woe for residents of Kigo extension in Kaduna town, Kaduna state, when the annual flood surge through the area on the night of August 6 and the morning of August 7, destroying property worth millions of naira in its wake. Often suffering floods at this time of the year, residents say this year’s own incidence is by a wide margin, the most devastating so far.

Our reporter met Miss Nike Nasir, a resident in the COCIN Church area located on Katumba Aboki avenue in the area cleaning up her house and drying wet items. She narrated how it all happened. “At about 11pm, we noticed that it had started raining. We slept off hoping it will stop. At about 3am, we heard some jingling sounds as if pots and pans were being gently knocked together. So, we woke up to find water sipping through the door and our utensils were floating and were the ones making the bell like sounds. At that point, we started moving our belongings to a friend’s house on Makarfi street just behind us and waited for day break to move elsewhere.”

The Naisrs have lived in the neighborhood for about three years now and have never really bothered about the flood because the effect had never been this severe. “September will make it three years since we have been here but the flood has never affected us this badly as to overwhelm our homes because of how high the foundation is. But this time, it flooded the house and almost submerged it. We are already looking for another accommodation. It is really bad for us this year because even the Makarfi Street where we sought refuge for our belongings was not spared from the flood. We lost a few of the items that we kept there. Last year our things were stolen but this time, there was no theft but the damage is grave such that it would have been better if they were stolen. At least they will be of use to someone else.”

Looking into the living room of Mrs. Shedrack who lives down the road and also, has been an occupant of the same house for the past eleven years and has had to contend with the calamity year in year out, “after the very first experience I had which is about eleven years ago, I had resolved not to buy expensive items and furnishings for my house. But this time, even the loss of the inexpensive ones was very grave for me. It is the first time I shed tears from going through a flood as I practically lost everything that was not plastic, rubber or wood. The water has receded but we still cannot find some of our property and even some of those we found, we cannot use because we are scared of skin diseases as we believe some of them may have been contaminated. We would rather let them go than bring more crises on ourselves.”

Mrs. Shedrack is not the only one who has been in the area that long. Mr. Longe Abel has lived there for about eight years and has only now decided to relocate. He said, “this is the first time have been frightened by flood in this area since I started living here. I almost lost my life in the process of trying to salvage some of my property and had to leave the bulk of them behind. I cannot describe the sadness I felt when I saw my refrigerator, furniture and electronic set floating before my eyes. We were helpless. There was no form of rescue or sympathy from the government or anybody else.

But we are grateful that inspite of it all, no life was lost and no case of medical problem has been reported as a result of the disaster.”

When asked if any formal report has been made to the authorities, he said sounding dejected, “what have they done? The whole state knows that Kigo has a peculiar problem with flood. But who has ever come to our aid? Instead, it is in the heat of this that the PHCN is coming to cut wires and demand bills and our receipts. We have not received sympathy from them and the government even in the slightest form of remedying the situation.” For about three days or so, Abel said they hardly had access into their houses and have been cleaning up for close to three days at the time of filing this report.

It comes across as a wonder that people would live this number of years experiencing this annually with no move to relocate but wait for the situation to escalate this high before finally deciding to move. Regardless of the fact that Abel is considering relocating, Mrs. Shedrack says, “I have no intention of moving anywhere. There is security and a school next door for my children. Where do I want to go to that will allow me get so much and spend this little? Nobody has come to our aid because we are foreigners live here. If it were indigenes, there would have long been a solution to it.”

The area serves as residence as well as school where most of them dumptheir waste with no proper disposal methods in place. Some of the wastes are burnt but the majority’s thrown into the water body right in front of these houses. That, in itself, was already an environmental health hazard, environmental health specialist, Mrs. Clara Ike, pointed out. “A lot of diseases are very easily transmitted through water. To live in such an environment already poses a great health risk to the individuals around there. Mosquitoes will breed in their multitudes in such a water body while bacteria and parasites will thrive efficiently there as well. Also, pollution is at its peak. With children in such an environment, you can never be too careful watching them and keeping them from playing there. Even restricting them to the banks alone is exposing them to too much danger. You have all sorts of reptiles and insects  crawling all over the place.”

She said, “we need to learn to live in a healthy and safe environments beginning from our own doorsteps and personal cleanliness habits before we can blame authorities for not playing their role. Residents of Kigo extension have not lived up to this.”

Ordinarily, this should not be an issue as it is something that can be easily resolved if the responsible authorities lived up to their bidding, said Engr. Ibrahim Mustafa. “In my opinion, for such an area, there should be no house built there because it is a water way and the flow has been interrupted which is why there is this problem on a yearly basis. There is no clear demarcation between the houses and the water bank. The road/street is what separates the buildings from the stream. How does any body live like that? Look at Victoria Island and the bar beach overflowing. That is a place with quite and expanse of land separating them but they still have had to deal with the beach overflowing into the streets of Victoria Island. We need to reinforce these areas with walls, sand and the necessary reinforcing materials. In other places, these would be choice area to live in because the water view will be well exploited that property there would be really costly. We know what to do but invest more energy and time analyzing and deliberating what the right thing is for us to do rather than act and do it.”

Although the water has completely receded and the road now accessible, residents are still recovering from the shock of the flood and picking up the remains as they count their loss.