The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) says no fewer than 23 persons have died as a result of flooding in Benue since the beginning of the rainy season.

The Executive Secretary, Emmanuel Shior, announced this while kick-starting the distribution of relief materials to flood victims on Tuesday in Makurdi.

He said that 116,084 persons had also been displaced as a result of the flooding, and that those displaced persons cut across 12,856 households in 11 local government areas.

“74 persons are having different degrees of injuries. 14 out of the  23 deaths arose from boat mishap in Guma Local Government Area,” he said.

The executive secretary further stated that the flooding had so far affected 14,040 hectares of farmlands while 4,411 houses had been submerged, including “Schools and markets, companies, houses and farmlands located in 104 communities”.

He listed the affected local government areas as, Guma, Vandeikya, Otukpo, Katsina-ala, Makurdi, Apa, Agatu, Tarka, Gboko, Gwer-West and Logo.

“The victims are in need of immediate support. That is the reason for this exercise. We began with Makurdi and Agatu because they are the worst hit with 34 and 28 affected communities respectively.

“The victims in Agatu who are currently taking refuge along the Federal Highway will soon be relocated to Obagaji,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, John Digah, Principal Researcher and Rescue Officer, National Emergency Management Agency, said the agency had deployed water treatment machine to support the victims with potable water.

Mr Digah said that the machine had the capacity to treat 2,000 litres of water within an hour. “In the past two days, we have treated and distributed 140,000 litres of water to the victims.”

(NAN)