Owerri — More than 12,250 persons have been sacked by a ravaging flood in Awo Idemili, Orsu Local Government area of Imo State, occasioned by several days of downpour that submerged their ancestral homes.

Our Correspondent, who visited the scene of the disaster, understood that Okwuamaraihe autonomous community is the worst hit, while the flood at press time, has successfully sacked seven out of nine villages.

While the flood, at the time of the visit, was more than seven meters high in some parts, Orsu Local Government area remains one of the local council areas in Imo State where flood and soil erosion has wreaked a lot of havoc in the past two decades or more.

The present flood attack, which has paralysed socio-economic activities has not only claimed some lives but also made scores of families refugees in their own town, as most of them now live in sub-human conditions in primary school classrooms, churches and other public places.

Narrating the sordid plight of the natives, the Transition Committee Chairman of Orsu Local Government area, Chief Cyprian O.C. Akaolisa, told Vanguard that a construction company engaged by the Federal Government several years ago to work on a road caused the flood problem.

Answering a question, Chief Akaolisa explained that "the problem posed by the ravaging flood is now beyond the capabilities of the state and local governments".

Speaking also, the member representing Orsu local council area in Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Stan Dara, said that the Federal Government, in addition to finding a permanent solution to the problem, should notify the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to rehabilitate the now hopeless victims.