Five houses have been washed into big gully erosion in Calabar Municipal Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday, rendered over twenty families homeless while property worth millions of naira including electronics, furniture, wearing apparels and other personal belongings were destroyed.
When who visited the area, Nsang Effiom Street, ABC, in Nyangasang by the first transformer, in Calabar municipality local government area of the State on Friday, observed victims lamenting the situation.
Though, nobody was reported dead but valuables worth millions of naira were washed into a big gully erosion where the affected buildings situated.
A victim, who gave her name as Margaret Effiom Akpan, said that the several hours torrential rains that fell caused the collapsed of the building given that the houses were located closed to the raven.
“The five buildings were swept away following torrential rains in the area, Nsang Effiom Street, ABC, in Nyangasang by the first transformer, in Calabar municipal local government area of the State.
Another resident of the community, Sunday Akpan called on the State Government to intervene with a matter of urgency to help rescue other properties which are at risk of imminent collapse.
Akpan, further highlighted the plights of the residents in the community, saying both property owners and tenants are abandoning their residencies in a bid to reach for safety.
Other members of the community alleged that 12 lives have been lost due to the effect of the heavy down pour experienced in the area since the beginning of the year.
“The houses were built along the water channels where there was a big gully. These are the areas where water passes” he lamented.
Confirming the incident on Friday, the Director General State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Princewill Ayim, said “If you built along the water channels, when the consequences comes, you carry it.
“We have sensitized the people enough not to build on water channels, we spoke with the residents on the danger of this, so anybody that built on water channels as in this case, suffer the consequences.
Consequently, on the gully erosion, the DG explained, “Government has intervened and tried to control it from the other angle. This gully had been in existence for several years, the control is almost been completed.
“This particular one is the one remaining and we are to join it through the other angle. There is evidence of government concern. We came in based on the predictions we got from NiMET that our state is among the palpable states to be flooded by rain this September and October so anything we hear, we rush to the place, check and make our recommendations to out Zonal Offices which in turn will forward it to our headquarters
“We have gone there and notice that the buildings were erected on the water channels and close to the big gully. However, the erosion had eaten deep and approaches many houses. There was no death during the devastation but many families are affected” adding that the building were illegally built, “You can’t built close to a gully erosion like that,” he fumed.
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