Ali Garba 
Flood accompanying a downpour has destroyed property and goods worth N950 million in 16 local government areas of Bauchi State. Governor Bala Abdulkadir disclosed this when he received the Director-General (DG) of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Mohammed (rtd), during a courtesy visit yesterday at the Government House, Bauchi The governor, who spoke through his deputy, Senator Bala Tella, said that the flood had devastated 16 local government areas in the state and 3,500 houses.
He said the flood also destroyed 2,000 farmlands,which “is an indication that in the near future there is going to be hunger in Bauchi State if nothing is done to avert future occurrences”. Abdulkadir added that the property destroyed did not include infrastructure such as roads that were washed away in Dambam, Darazo and Shira local government areas which would gulp a lot of resources to fix.
The governor explained that so far the state had received 220 trailers of food items of different varieties from SEMA. Earlier, the NEMA DG, Mohammed, said the agency was in the state to alert the state on a pending natural disaster which has been predicted by the National Metrological Agency (NIMET) that “over 200 local government areas in the country risk flooding”. The DG, represented by the Director, Liaison Services, Alhaji Bashir Idiris Garga, said the citizens must prepare ahead and ensure evacuate all gutters and drainages.
