BY EDAFE EJOHWEMU
The recent prediction by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) that flood waters would affect some states in Nigeria, including Delta state, has brought sleepless nights to the people of Ndokwa East Local Government Area.
Ndokwa East Local Government Area is a low-lying land prone to flooding yearly, leaving a trail of destruction of farmlands and buildings.
Though the forecast was to alert indigenes to take safety precautions, locals are frustrated as their livelihoods and properties are at stake, with the attendant inconvenience of going to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.
There is also the pressure of premature harvesting of food crops like sweet potatoes and cassava to save them from being destroyed by floods.
The most affected communities in Ndokwa East are Onyia, Utuoku, Okpai, Adiawai, Obiaku, Utchi, Abala-Oshimili, Aboh, Beneku and Asaba-Ase.
Meanwhile, the Ndokwa East Local Government Area Development Organisation (NELGADO), has suggested that the solution to flooding is for the state government, in collaboration with the oil exploration companies, to dredge the river Niger and channel the excavated silt onto the low-lying landscape.
They believe that if the Niger is dredged deeply enough, it would contain the flood.
