Flood: Gboko-Makurdi Road Submerged

As the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon continues to devastate farmlands and destroy houses, flooding yesterday increased in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, rendering the popular Makurdi-Gboko road inaccessible.

This is just as more houses, churches, schools and motor parks located around the Wurukum roundabout, the area where the food basket statue is placed, have been terribly washed away by water.

The pupils of the Kingdom Heritage Academy, owned by? the Living? Faith Church, were restricted from getting into the school, just as parents who had conveyed their wards to attend classes were ordered to go back with them as, according to security men who were at the gate, “there was no school.”

Meanwhile, the Makurdi-Gboko express way was blocked yesterday by water at Mu village, near the Nigerian Air Force Base. The development caused traffic jam on the road, even as vehicles plying the route could not have easy access to Makurdi, the state capital.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) were not seen at the scene, at? press time,? to ensure law and order as well as assist? motorists plying the route.

In a related development, motorists travelling to Abuja and other northern states through Lokoja, Kogi State, who are presently trapped by the flood ravaging some parts of the state, are having the worst experience of their lives.

Our correspondent, who visited the Okomi and Banda villages in Lokoja local government where the flood has taken over the highway, observed that travellers going to Abuja were being exploited by motorists, particularly commercial motorcycle operators.

Meanwhile, the FRSC has told? motorists to take alternative routes to and from Abuja, as a result of the overflow of River Niger.