Federal government has warned Anambra State residents in coastal areas to be cautious of impending and predicted flood disasters this year.
Zubaida Umar, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) gave the warning on Friday in Awka, the state capital.
He said the federal government was committed to ensuring the impact of the predicted flood incident for 2024 is mitigated with proper measures in place.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) through the Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) and Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) respectively provided forecasts on floods and other hydro meteorological hazards in Nigeria during the rainy season.
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The forecasts by NIMET and NIHSA are adopted by NEMA and SEMA, Anambra State to design disaster risk communication strategies for downscaling of the early warning messages to communities at risk.
This explains why the government through NEMA decided to flag off the downscaling of early warning alerts to the grassroots to avert the impacts of floods and associated hazards in Anambra and other states of the country in 2024.
Umar said NEMA looked forward to continuous support and cooperation especially through the Anambra SEMA.
In continuation of the engagements on disaster risk reduction and providing relief support to the most vulnerable in areas.
She appreciated the decision of Governor Charles Soludo-led government to grant special attention to disaster risk reduction and sustainable development in the state.
She noted that the rapid transformation of Anambra state across all indices of human development in the past year is no doubt worthy of commendation and emulation by others.
Chief Paul Odenigbo, Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in his opening remarks, said ten local government Areas were prone to flood disasters in the state.
They are Anambra East, Anambra West, Awka North, Ayamelum, Ekwusigo, Idemeili South, Ihiala, Ogbaru Onitsha North and Onitsha South local governments.
Odenigbo urged those living near the rivers and streams not to hesitate to relocate to higher grounds as soon as they notice significant rise in the water level.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo, represented by his Deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim thanked the Federal Government and NEMA for the various interventions and assistance to the state.
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Soludo intimated the NEMA Boss the various efforts already being put into place to control flood disaster in the state including proper channeling of water ways, sensitization of the people on the need to be environment friendly.
Anambra has 27 holding centres to accommodate and take care of the needs of persons that might be displaced.
