BY ADOLPHUS DURU
Panic and confusion enveloped the people of Amaewu, Umueze, Amamba Uzuakoli in Bende local government of Abia State following a gully erosion that swept away a 2-storey building and a 4-bedroom bungalow.
The villagers said they are now living in fear as the gully site which they said has gulped several millions of Naira, has defiled every remedy.
Speaking on the development, the member representing Bende South constituency in Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Emmanuel Ndubuisi said the 2-storey building swept away by the gully was built by a native of the area residing abroad.
Ndubuisi said it was painful the man had to lose the building to the erosion despite frantic efforts he made to bring it under control.
The lawmaker added that the community had consistently made efforts to change the course of the gully site to no avail, leading to the collapse of another 4-bedroom bungalow.
He said he reached out to NEWMAP who gave their expert advise, adding that the step was taken, but the gully kept expanding.
Expressing fear that more buildings in the community were under the threat of the erosion, Hon. Ndubuisi hinted that the community has commenced fresh palliative work following advise by NEWMAP team to mitigate the flood impact.
“NEWMAP team advised that the community should do drainage down to the river so that more buildings will not be threatened but I don’t know if the money available to the community now can do that.
“What we want to do now is to use a kind of sandbags to slow down the speed of the flood so that the devastation will reduce, which the engineers told us will reduce the devastation,” he said.
The lawmaker called on federal government to intervene to save the community from being completely swept away by the erosion
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