Residents in Kenema city in the east of the country have experienced a heavy down pour of rain, which lasted for over two hours on Thursday 25th September, 2008, leaving over three hundred people homeless and properties worth millions of leones damaged.
The flooding over ran the greater part of Kpetewoma, Nyandeyama and Kpetema communities and all the houses along the Blama Road from the city center known as C-Curve up to Fornikoh towards Nyandeyama and Kpetewoma sections were all affected leaving over fifteen (15) houses completely damaged..
The offices of the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) and the Lawyers Center for Legal Assistance (LAWCLA) were among the buildings affected; as pedestrians, vehicles and motorbikes could hardly pave their way through Blama road as the Caferay Bridge was over flooded.
Some male residents were seen with their few belongings as they swim to safer zones in the city while some youths were seen sitting on top of mango trees in their compounds.
This is not the first time flooding has affected these communities but this is the worst in ten years.
Similar flooding occurred on 16th July this year in places in Kpetewoma, Nyandeyama and along Wahmann Abu Road but not of this magnitude.
Hundreds of residents from the city center lined up the streets along the city to sympathize with the flood victims, while others at the scene where carting away properties of the victims instead of helping them.
It is not yet clear how many people might have drowned as a result of the flood, since residents were calling over the local FM stations in the city claiming that their loves ones have perished in the disaster
One of the displaced persons Patricia Abu, who spoke to Awoko press, expressed dissatisfaction over this issue and called on government, NGOs and other line Ministries to assist in rebuilding their homes, noting that most people could not easily recover from the trauma.
An environmentalist Joseph Samai attached to the Gola Forest Programme in Kenema attributed the flooding to deforestation, stressing that flooding would not occur in a forested area and that Kenema city stands the risk of experiencing more problems in the near future if the people continue to destroy the Kamboi forest over looking the city.
ADVERTISEMENT