With few months into the rainy season, the Catholic Bishop of Bomadi, a coastal community in Delta, His Lordship, Dr. Hyacinth Egbebo, has raised alarm over a devastating erosion wreaking havoc on the community, just as the erosion is gradually consuming vast section of the church cathedral headquarters in the local government area.

The Bishop, who expressed fears while conducting journalists round the scene of erosion, lamented the magnitude of the erosion saying the erosion was beyond the ability of the church to control.

Egbebo stated that the cathedral was in great danger including a two-storey building under construction and other surrounding buildings which, according to him, are now in imminent danger of being washed into the river by the ravaging erosion if urgent steps were not taking by the agencies concerned.

Our correspondent observed that a large portion of the land measuring about 15 metres wide and about 40 metres stretch on the coastline has been washed into the river in a space of two weeks, affecting the base of a landing jetty.

Fielding questions from journalists, the apparently worried clergy stated that he felt worried about the development, noting that there was nothing the church could do to save the houses from being taking away by the erosion if it is left unattended to.

According to Bishop Egbebo, “I feel very, very worried about this erosion; very worried because to build anything here is very expensive. And now you can see all the houses in this area and the cathedral are under threat of being washed away. And of course, many of these buildings are already on the verge of being washed away.

“These buildings were put in when this had not happened, and nobody anticipated that this would happen. Though I hear that there was some kind of plan by the government to do foreshore wall here, but it is yet to be done. And now this has happened, and we are feeling very worried over the development. We pray that there should be some immediate intervention to stop this from destroying the community.”

The cleric therefore appealed to the government as well as interventionist agencies to urgently come to the aide of the community to prevent the unwanted from taking place.

•Photo shows flooding in Bomadi.

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