Located within Uyo metropolis, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, the Ikot Obio Atai community in the Itu Local Government Area of the state cuts a picture of a slum.

Approaching the road which traverses the community now rendered impassable, one is confronted with the grim spectre of how the flood has negatively impacted on the community.

The houses have been submerged and everywhere overrun by weeds, giving an impression of an isolated and neglected environment. Indeed hopelessness and frustrations were the visible expressions on the faces of the residents when our correspondent visited on Thursday.

Some were forced to relocate, others without anywhere to put up with the flood. A commercial tricycle rider and resident of the community, Mr Titus Sunday, could not hide his frustration when he spoke with newsmen.

He said, “I scoop water out of my room whenever it rains because I don’t have money to rent a new apartment elsewhere or build a house.”

Sunday noted that whenever it rained, he always rushed to his house to prepare for impending flood, adding that the situation had affected his business.

“I always ensure that I am close to the house whenever it is about to rain to be able to protect my property from being soaked. It is always frustrating when it rains for long hours,” Sunday added.

Also, a retired primary school teacher and landlady, Mrs Susana Etim, who lives at a house along Urua Ekpa road, said she was always helpless wherever it rained in the night, stating that she had slept off many times with water under her bed.

She said she could no longer collect rents from her tenants whenever rains damage their property, noting that she had spent much money on the house to make it more habitable.

She added, “I have suffered a lot. I spent my gratuity to purchase sand to fill the house but that has not solved the problem. I cannot walk. My legs are not good again. Constant putting of my legs in the water has affected them. I have slept with water under my bed.

“There is nothing I can do again; I now live on charity, so when people come to interview me, they give me money. Most of my tenants have left and I no longer collect rent from others because they make trouble whenever it rains and their rooms are flooded”

Another resident and garri seller who identified herself only as Mercy lamented that the flood had crippled her business as most of her customers, mostly students of the University of Uyo, had relocated from the community.

She said she had to adopt the strategy of hawking garri on the adjoining streets to make ends meet and pay her children’s school fees.

Mercy stated, “We lived well before the flood came and since it started, life has never been the same again. Many people, including students from the University of Uyo, had moved away from the area and that affected my business .Sometimes, I had to hawk garri to survive.’’

A landlord whose house is along Urua Ekpa Road, Mr Ekpe Asukwo, also stated that he was affected by the flood. For him, his source of livelihood can no longer be guaranteed as his tenants have relocated from the community.

“It’s difficult to quantify our losses over the years because of the menace of flood. My tenants have relocated one after the other. It is a pitiable situation and it’s often like this most seasons,” Asukwo said.

It was gathered that over 120 houses were overrun by flood, forcing the village head, Okon Mkpong, to relocate his palace from Urua Ekpa street to Udo Usanga.

The traditional ruler who spoke with our correspondent said the flood has affected not only the community but adjoining streets in the area including Afaha Oku, Imo, and some parts of Udo Usanga, among others.

He called on the state government to address the challenge, adding that the situation was beyond the community.

He said, ‘’We have written a series of letters to the state government but nothing has happened since 1999 when the problem started till date. It is difficult for us as a community to handle. That is why we are calling on the state governor, Udom Emmanuel to help us.’’

Successive governments didn’t do enough to handle the flood challenge in the community.

A member of the state House of Assembly, representing Itu state constituency, Kufre Edidem, who is from the community, said the challenge started a long time ago, adding that despite concerted efforts nothing had changed about the situation.

The lawmaker recalled that the state government once contacted officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, to visit the affected areas and share relief materials among the victims.

He said as a lawmaker he facilitated the state commissioner for environment and his counterpart in the ministry of works to inspect the flood site, adding that nothing tangible was done since then.

Edidem, however, added that he had forwarded the complaint to the state government, expressing hope that work on the flood site would be included in the proposed 2022 budget of the state.

Besides, the state Commissioner of Environment and Solid Minerals, Mr Charles Udoh, said the state government was waiting for other World Bank- assisted projects in the state to end before packaging another proposal to the bank to assist in addressing the challenge.

He slammed the Niger Delta Development Commission for not joining hands with the state government in tackling challenges such as the flood.

He said,” That problem is over 20 years old, former governor Victor Attah couldn’t fix it, ex-governor Godswill Akpabio could not take the water out. What that means is that it’s not cheap to take the water out of that place. We came in and met that challenge and the one at IBB Avenue. There was a choice of which one has more economic importance. That is why the state government approached the World Bank to get funding to do the one at the avenue.

“No state government can tackle that flood alone and we cannot go back to the World Bank because we had other World Bank-assisted projects already going on in the state. Right now we will finish the projects already started by the World Bank before we can approach the bank again for the flood.

“That place is a low-land where water collects from every part of the adjoining streets. It is difficult to take water out not because of the construction but because of the compensation involved. The compensation cost will almost double construction cost.

“We are hoping that when we finish the World Bank- assisted projects currently at hand, we can package another proposal to the World Bank. But I want to say that the NDDC as an interventionist organ is not doing enough. These are the kind of projects that the NDDC can step in and say, ‘let us partner with the state government, but NDDC will not do.”