Residents of mud houses in Rivers State have expressed fear over this year’s impending flood, noting that if weather forecasts are anything to go by, the flood waters will soon wash away their abodes again.The affected persons, mostly in the Orashi region of the state, spoke at a medical outreach organised by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), Olympus Marino Deck, Port Harcourt Chapter in commemoration of the Independence Day after expressing dismay at the prevalence of hypertension among the elderly people in the community.

Speaking with The Guardian, Iche Cecil Wordu, noted that after routine checks in Osusu Community, Ahaoda West Council, most elderly people in the area became prone to hypertension.Wordu stressed that the yearly flooding that destroys homes and the livelihood of the people was the major contributor to the reported health condition.

However, Chijioke Fredrick, one of the beneficiaries of the medical programme, lamented the suffering they undergo due to floods, which ravage them on yearly basis. Also, another resident of the community, Henry Michael, ascribed the level of hypertensive patients in the area to the yearly flooding in the community.

“We have been suffering from too much flooding and persistent flooding is the reason behind hypertension among the older people in Joinkarama. This is because when the flood comes, it ravages our community and this scares the women, because the incessant flood is making our minds unstable,” he said.

Meanwhile, paramount ruler of Osusu Joinkarama, Chief Philip Oke, who said since the flood started in 2012, government at all levels had not supported them, urged the government to assist the community, stressing that the outreach was the best intervention they had received.

“I appreciate the organisation for assisting us and I believe that if the Federal and state governments can support us, everybody will be happy. We are suffering a lot from flooding. We have no health assistance and this is one of the best assistance we have received from a private organisation since the floods,” he added.