Several communities in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have been ravaged by severe flooding following torrential rainfall that lasted for several hours, destroying homes and property worth millions of naira and forcing residents to seek refuge in safer locations.
The downpour, which began late Saturday and continued into Sunday, submerged major streets and residential areas, collapsed buildings and disrupted socio-economic activities across the oil-rich city, with affected areas including Ediam Road, Edohoeket Street, Idua Road, Afaha Eket Road, All Weather Road, Ikot Udoma, Mkpok Lane and Eket-Oron Road.
Residents said the flooding caught many families unawares as the rain began late at night, leaving little opportunity to evacuate homes or salvage belongings. Some families reportedly spent the early hours of Sunday scooping water from their rooms, kitchens and other parts of their houses.
A resident of Mkpok Lane, Mrs Elizabeth Akpan, who wept while trying to remove floodwater from her home, said the disaster had destroyed her electronics, kitchen utensils and other belongings.
“Flood has destroyed my property worth millions of naira due to the heavy downpour that started yesterday and today,” she lamented, appealing to the state government, NEMA and SEMA to urgently come to the aid of affected residents.
Another resident, Mfonobong Bassey of Edem Udoh Street, said she and her children had been struggling to keep floodwater from completely taking over their home. “My children and I have been scooping water out of our rooms, kitchen, toilet and bathroom since 4 a.m. Flood has submerged my house,” she said.
The situation also resulted in the collapse of some buildings, while business owners counted significant losses.
A businessman, Promise Friday, said more than 80 bags of POP white cement purchased for a building project were destroyed by floodwater, alongside other materials and property in his hotel apartment. Another resident, Paul Idongesit of India Road, said the flood damaged his building and even affected the grave of his late wife.
Responding to the disaster, the Chairman of Eket Local Government Council, Mr Akan Tommey, who toured some of the affected communities with officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), described the situation as devastating and pledged to pursue immediate intervention for victims.
“The flood is deeply distressing. Homes have been ravaged, properties damaged, and families left to bear the painful consequences of an unusually intense rainfall,” Tommey said,
He added that the council was engaging NEMA and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) while compiling detailed assessments for submission to relevant authorities.
While commending the council chairman for his prompt response, the Ekid Development Forum (EDF) said the scale of the disaster should also compel authorities to address the underlying environmental and infrastructural problems responsible for recurrent flooding in the city.
The Vice-President of EDF, Mkpisong Francis Odoro, blamed indiscriminate refuse disposal, inadequate drainage, alleged poor workmanship on some road projects and what he described as inadequate government intervention in environmental management.
“There is no tangible comprehensive waste disposal system in Eket Local Government. Residents dispose of wastes randomly and carelessly because there is no government policy and legislation that effectively controls waste management,” Odoro said.
He also criticised the handling of waste evacuated from gutters during monthly environmental sanitation exercises, saying such refuse was sometimes left on the roadside until subsequent rainfall washed it back into drainage channels.
“Wastes removed from gutters are allowed to wash back again into the gutters because they are not evacuated on time,” he said, citing inadequate equipment and manpower as part of the problem.
Another executive member of EDF, Mkpisong Jack Daniel Etteh, called for improved funding of local government councils and a broader waste-management system across the state. He alleged that councils might not be receiving the full allocations accruing to them from the Federation Account, warning that inadequate resources could undermine their ability to provide essential services.
“Council chairmen do not receive the exact monthly allocation sent to them from the Federation Account. They cannot perform as expected with the paucity of funds at their disposal,” Etteh said,
He, however urged the state government to provide waste bins across communities, enforce environmental laws and intensify public education on responsible waste disposal.
The President of EDF, Anietie Jacksons, Esq., described the flooding as a wake-up call for proactive environmental governance, urging authorities to move beyond emergency responses after disasters occur. He called for immediate relief and rehabilitation of victims, while recommending that badly affected areas, particularly Ediam and Udoito Streets, be treated as disaster zones and temporarily restricted to traffic because of the possibility of further rainfall.
