A traditional ruler in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State has reportedly drowned when the boat in which he was being evacuated from his flooded community capsized, as an additional 120 communities had been submerged in different parts of the state.
A villager told Vanguard that for traditional reasons, the name of the royal father could not be disclosed at this time.
Chairman of the Flood Disaster Committee and deputy governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, who briefed Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, yesterday, on the activities of the committee, said the flood disaster was getting worse in the state.
As at yesterday, no fewer than 220 additional communities had been swamped. Vanguard learnt that the situation at Aboh, Oko Kingdom and Gbekebor communities was heart-rending.
It was gathered that the surge had spread to Ogheghe and other riverine communities in Warri North Local Government Area.
He noted that the committee had visited the affected coastal areas, opened rehabilitation camps and ensured that relief materials were distributed to the rehabilitation camps.
On his part, Uduaghan decried the nonchalant attitude of the local government areas to the flood disaster, noting that it was also the responsibility of the councils to cater for displaced persons in their jurisdictions.
The governor, who also received a delegation from Oko community in Oshimili South Local Government Area, one of the worse hit communities in the state, said his administration would embark on the embankment of shorelines of coastal communities on the banks of the River Niger, as part of measures to protect them from the current deluge.
In particular, he said there would be massive sand filling and reclamation of the shoreline from the Anwai end of the state capital, Asaba, through the bridgehead to Oko.
