Rains of ruins

From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

For most residents of Jalingo, Taraba State capital, the 5th of August, 2021 will go down as one of the most unpleasant days of their lives. That day, they woke up to the fury of a flood that not only destroyed their property, but also claimed one of them.

Peace Elam, like most residents of Mayo Gwoi in Jalingo Local Government Area, was one of the victims of the flood. She went to sleep full of peace, but midway, in fact just when her sleep was at its sweetest, she was jolted up by the wetness of her flooded room. By the morning, she has lost a huge lot. Speaking to Daily Sun, she recalled that it just few weeks ago that they had suffered a similar misfortune in the recent past.

“You know that this is less than a month since we had this ugly experience. We are yet to recover from the first one” she began. 

“So on that day, when I noticed it was raining heavily again, I tried to stay awake to see what will happen. At first everything was okay and I eventually fell asleep again. But to my utmost surprise, I woke up only to realize that my whole room was submerged in the water” she stated. 

“I think it was actually the water that woke me up. It was a horrible experience. I could barely think. Eventually I hurdled through the water, not knowing what to salvage. When I got outside, I realized that I was not dreaming and my neighbors were all out as well trying to salvage what they could.”    

Elam noted that she has lost nearly everything to the waters.”The water did not really take things away, it damaged them, made them waste.My foodstuffs were all extremely wet, my bed was nearly completely submerged, my chairs also. And my phone, lying on the table also got soaked with water/

“I think I just have to start all over again. Being that this is raining season, it will take time for my mattress and cushion chairs to dry up and become usable again. I guess that is just part of life” she said optimistically .

Unlike Elam, Bulus Danjuma actually watched as the furious water submerged his belongings. He was helpless as the nightmare unfolded.

“After the flood of last month, I no longer sleep any time it rains. So that day, I woke up when it started raining. Something told me it is going to be bad again. and my premonition came to pass.

“At first, it was as if everything would be fine. But suddenly, there was water everywhere. I watched with my eyes as the water entered my room. I saw it and there was nothing I could do. I tried to flush it out, but soon realized that I was wasting my time, : he told Daily Sun.

“I think much of the water came from River Mayo Gwoi that was flooded. And those of us resident around its bank had to suffer from its anger. I have lived in this area for more than 20 years now, but this is the first time we are experiencing such serious flooding at such close intervals.

“If you look at the river, you will see that the bank simply spread into homes and business premises so there is nothing that will stop the water from entering homes. I think it is time the government does something about it, “he stated. For Usman Ibi, he did not only lose his perimeter fence completely, the felled fence smashed his car and wrecked its engine block besides causing serious damage to his wife’s car which was parked within the same distance.

  “My house was among the first to be hit by the impact of the water.. so it took a lot of pressure. I lost over eight of my belongings. As a civil servant, recouping won’t be easy. As we speak, I only have one mattress to use in my house. The rest are in shambles” Ibi said.

One of the operators at A. A. Kassa, Caleb Modekai told Daily Sun that he was heartbroken, not knowing how to take the whole incident.

“I woke up in the morning and came to the shop very early. To my surprise, I saw that my shops were inside water. I could not even enter the compound because the water was everywhere. I had to go in at some point to remove some money that I left in the shop……It was really heartbreaking for me. I just lost millions there like a joke”.

Kassa said that the damage to his market and businesses alone were hundreds of Millions of Naira, while urging the State government to quickly come to their aid.

“The damage here is in quantum. Some of the businesses have folded up. One of the boys who operate a computer centre lost everything. All his systems and printers and papers and everything you could think of were floating in the water. By the time the waters receded, they were all useless. 

“Look at that event planner shop” he said pointing at the shop,” Everything there was destroyed. The cushion chairs, cakes, just everything.

“Most of these people and businesses are startups. How do you expect them to start all over again? The government and other people with the capacity must step in” Baba Kassal insisted.

According to Ibi, “This flood will continue to disturb and destroy this community unless the needful is done. They need stone pitch the river bank where the water usually burst to our homes using hard core to correct the water ways so that we can have rest of mind.

“All that needs to be done is just a defensive wall of less than three hundred meters. The wall would shield the area where the water diverts from going downstream and starts entering to our homes. I think this is something the state government can do conveniently if they wished to do”.

In all there is consensus that the Taraba State Government has not done enough to avert this flood or to save the resident from the abundant waste. Residents therefore appealed to the state government to take urgent steps to save them from the unholy water, including asking for financial support to help them go through the unfortunate times.