The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says 11 of the 17 local government areas of Abia will be affected by the impending 2024 flood disaster.

The Director-General, NEMA, Mrs Zubaida Umar, made this known in on Thursday at the 2024 downscaling and sensitisation of the 2024 flood early warning strategies for effective early actions in Umuahia.

Umar, who was represented by Dr Martins Ejike, Acting Director, Human Resource Management, NEMA, said that Abia was among the states considered to fall within the moderate flood risk areas.

She said the predictions by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency respectively, had provided NEMA with valuable early warning alerts.

The NEMA boss said that some of the local governments that would be affected from July to September included Aba South, Aba North, Osisioma Ngwa, Ukwa West, Umuahia North, Umunneochi among others.

The director-general said the exercise was part of efforts to build disaster resilience communities, which had been her focus since her assumption of office.

“It is about taking action in order to alleviate the sufferings of our people, especially as it affects the impending flood disaster,” she said.

Umar commended Gov. Alex Otti for all the measures put in place by the Abia Government to reduce the risk of avoidable losses due to floods in the state over the past years.

In response, the governor thanked the NEMA boss for the choice of Abia as one of the states in the country to launch the sensitisation exercise.

Otti, represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, said it was time the relevant authorities shifted focus toward downscaling flood early warning strategies to the grassroots level.

In a brief remark, Dr Sunday Jackson, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said that over 20 communities in the state were already affected by the flood, even before the timing of July to September as predicted.

He commended the governor for all the actions already taken to mitigate the impact of flooding in the state.

“The magnitude of flood in Abia is far beyond the capacity of the state.

“I still want to appeal to NEMA that in its interventions to states affected by flooding, Abia should be in the forefront,” the SEMA boss said. (NAN)

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