Bayelsa Flood: 96 dead, over 1.3M people affected — SEMA claims

• United Nations has described the Bayelsa State flood disaster as a major crisis deserving of attention
• 96 person is already dead and over 1 million people were affected by the Bayelsa flood

No fewer than 96 people have been recorded dead and 1.3 million people in the state have reportedly been impacted by the Bayelsa floods, according to the Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency.

This is based on information obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria and made public on Monday by BYSEMA in Yenogoa. According to the agency, more than 1.3 million people were uprooted and forced to seek safety in makeshift camps.

“As of November 4,  96 deaths were reported with Yenagoa Local Government Area worst hit,” BYSEMA Chairman, Mr. Walamam Igrubia, said.

Ibnubia added that the collation of data from the field was still ongoing.

“The flood affected a number of farmlands, school buildings, health structures, and other facilities. The flood also affected some 300 communities across the eight LGAs of the state.

“Preliminary reports and data available to SEMA and other agencies indicate that Bayelsa remained the most flood impacted among states in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, the statement attributed to Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, that the state is not among the ten most affected states by the 2022 flood sparked a furious response from the Bayelsa State Government and the state’s residents yesterday. They claimed the minister’s analysis of the data led to the wrong conclusion.

The minister’s claim came after Chief Edwin Clark, the president of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), recently criticized her for not treating flood-affected areas in Bayelsa and other South-South regions humanely.

Jigawa, Anambra, and Kogi were listed by Farouk as the worst affected states based on the number of displaced people and the total number of deaths reported, when he recently made an appearance at the ministerial media briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

But in response, the group called the statement callous, reckless, insensitive, and irresponsible in a release issued in Lagos by its general secretary, Mr. Efiye Bribena.

It reiterated the urgent requirement for massive deployment of palliatives to the affected communities in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country to alleviate the suffering of the victims while challenging the Humanitarian Ministry to develop a comprehensive post-flood disaster management plan.

The release read in part: “The statement made by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, that Bayelsa State is not one of the 10 top states hit by flood without empirical data is not only careless and insensitive but also out of tune with the present reality.

“We all know that the Delta Basin is where all waters flow through from the Niger and Benue rivers to get to the Atlantic Ocean.

“Not unexpectedly, when the flood came, Bayelsa was completely submerged and cut off from the world, leaving the people with no food, medical, etc. Many victims had to take refuge in makeshift camps or sleep on the highways. We do not need to give the list of the countless people, both old and young, who died under devastating circumstances.

“Sadly, instead of using her office to address the challenge at hand and alleviate the suffering of the victims, all the Minister could do was insult the sensibility of the people by comparing the magnitude of the damages occasioned by the flood disaster.

“Worst of all, no senior Federal Government official has visited the devastated areas except the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Timpre Sylva, who happens to come from Bayelsa. Are we really considered part of this country?”

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“For these comprehensive failings of her office, we demand she should be fired by the president. Alternatively, she should, as a matter of urgency, come up with a comprehensive plan for post-flood disaster management and how to repair the damaged infrastructure as is done in other climes.”

This is in line with the United Nations’ description of the Bayelsa State flood disaster as a major crisis deserving of attention.