The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA , has warned Osun State residents to prepare against what it saw as an impending flood disaster due to heavy rainfall between August and November.
Its Zonal Head of Operations for Ekiti, Osun and Ondo, Mr Olusegun Afolayan, gave this warning this during a sensitisation programme in Osogbo, the state capital.
He listed Osun as one of the 28 states predicted to experience flooding by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET.
Specifically, he warned residents living around river banks and waterways to vacate the areas in order to avoid flood disaster as predicted by NIMET.
He warned residents not to block the waterways and the drains with refuse, adding that flooding is eminent.
Afolayan said the only way to reduce the effect of the predicted flooding is by allowing water to flow on its natural course without hindrances.
The NEMA boss, who went round the flood prone areas with his team and officials of the Osun State Emergency Management Agency (OSEMA), appealed to residents living close to the river banks and waterways to leave the area before the rain began to avoid loss of lives and property.
Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the sensitisation, Afolayan said that the Director-General of the agency, Muhammadu Muhammed had directed that people living in flood prone areas should be sensitised and warned ahead of the coming rainfalls.
He said: “Osun is one of the 28 states predicted to be affected by this year’s rainfall by NIMET and that is why we are here to sensitise people living in flood risk areas to do the needful to minimise the effect of the coming flood.”
Also, Mr Tajudeen Adabanija, the General Manager of SEMA, said the 2019 flood affected a lot of people in the state and that they had also been sensitising and warning those in the affected areas to move out of such areas.
He said the government had done so much to reduce the effect of flooding in the state in the year.
He warned those staying near the waterways to vacate to prevent loss of property as was the case of 2019.
The Hope
