Residents of Jioke, Ameta and and Obodoaba villages, Obeagu community, in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, were on Saturday displaced by flood, which also destroyed property worth millions of naira, including farm produce.

That Obeagu was one of the communities in the Ishielu council of the state invaded by herdsmen who unleashed mayhem in the area and killed about 17 persons and destroyed houses and other property in March 2021.

The councillor of Obeagu community, Edeh Ejike, who said the flood was a surprise, told our correspondent on Sunday that over 15 houses were submerged.

According to him, the flood came from the Eme River, where the major five villages in the communities drink water from.

Ejike said, “The flooding happened on Saturday and even though many houses were affected, I was able to capture about 15 of them.

“In my community, about three villages were sacked by the flood — Jioke, Ameta and Obodoaba. In Ameta, about six houses were sacked; in Jioke, six houses were also affected, and in Obodoaba, five houses were affected.

“The natives whose houses were affected now squat with their neighbours. In some houses, the flood carried property worth millions of naira.

“Aside from houses and property, farmlands were destroyed by the flood. Rice farms, cassava and yam farms were also destroyed by the flood. The flood comes and goes. It’s like running water, because there was no rainfall the day the incident took place.

“There is a nearby river in the area called Eme River and it cuts across all the villages in Obeagu community. The flood started from Jioke, to Ameta and down to Obodoaba.”

Another resident of the area, Mrs Inokpe Nkeonye, a farmer, lamented that the flooding had subjected residents to hardship.

She stated, “Each time it comes, we will start arranging our property, thinking that it would just go away immediately. But it wouldn’t, until our property get submerge and destroyed.

“We have lost a lot to the flood and we call on the government to come to our rescue. We can’t go to our farms anymore, because our farmlands had been destroyed.”