Rain wreaks havoc in Calabar

Residents of Webber Street in Calabar South LGA of Cross River State are now counting their losses as a heavy downpour, last Sunday, has left some homeless while others have had their property destroyed.

The rain, which came with heavy windstorm, ripped open many roofs and also left many parts of the city flooded, despite government and communal efforts to contain neighbourhood floods.

But according to a resident on Webber Street, Barrister Edet Ating, who had his family house destroyed, “the rain left behind wanton destruction and my neighbours and I are now in pathetic situations.”

Ating said the street which was named after an English Judge and where the first indigenous Inspector General of Police, Louis Edet lived, was no longer motorable.

Another eyewitness, Chief Innocent Ekpenyong, lamented that perimeter walls and trees were pulled down, making it possible for ramshackle structures and other properties to be destroyed.

In Ubenekang, Idang and Nsemo Streets, in the Ambo neighbourhood, also in Calabar South LGA, the one-day rain and its attendant heavy flood and aided by erosion, effortlessly pulled structures.

Pleading for government urgent intervention in the area, a resident, Okon Essien Effiom, urged government to curb the menace of erosion.

But the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Liyel Imoke, Christian Ita, said the government has spent plenty of resources to combat the menace, especially in Calabar metropolis, adding that government was also partnering with World Bank and other organisations in this regard.