The Director General, Warri/Uvwie/Environs Special Area Development Agency (WUEDA), Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay has assured the people of Ugbuwangue in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State that immediate steps would be taken to salvage the severe flooding in the community.
Macaulay, a former Secretary to the Delta State Government, (SSG) stated this when he led a team of engineers, contractors and consultants to Ugbuwangue community to ascertain the level of flooding as a result of the torrential rainfall on Friday, and proffer lasting solution to the problem.
“I have seen the situation, and it is very bad, and I sympathise with you; but we must appreciate the fact that prior to this development, Government has taken steps to give leverage to the entire area of Warri and Uvwie but unfortunately, we are having this development. We have gone round the whole area and we are coming out with two solutions.
“The immediate solution and the long term solution. Immediate solution because the rains are just starting, so the flooding we have here will not continue for the rest of the year; and the long term solution is to salvage not just the road but this community that is already sinking down because that is the essence of the whole government intervention to make sure that such things don’t happen in Warri”.
He disclosed that during the same period last year, similar flooding occurred at Enerhen Road, and that the control measures emplaced have been very effective.
He assured that measures will be put in place to arrest the flooding menace in Ugbuwangue.
Comrade Macaulay noted that 80% of the flooding problem in Warri is caused by the inhabitants who erect structures on the flood evacuation ways and those who dump refuse in the drainage systems.
“We must be disciplined, we must not use one day’s earning to give out the life of a whole community for a life time, so the communities themselves should be their own watchdogs; they should stop selling lands that encroaches on natural waterways and people should stop building on natural waterways.” he said.
The DG assured that “By the end of tomorrow, the report would come out and we would know the best way to take this water out. We are trying to find a situation where we would minimize cost of damage and compensation because if a man has built, his fence or building would not be destroyed without compensation. It will be done in such a way that we minimise cost as this is not part of the budget, this is something that came in along the way, but the good thing is that Government is aware of the situation and we want a solution.”