By: Our Reporter, Calabar
Over 300 households in Calabar metropolis are facing traumatic experiences following a devastating windstorm that swept across the city ravaging houses including residential homes and public structures.
About 90 percent of the victims are incapable of returning to normalcy soon considering the magnitude of the disaster.
Most of the residential and business buildings suffered de roofing while others were knocked down by the storm.
The devastation affected power outage in the metropolis as electrical installations for public power supply including low and high tension poles and copper cables were pulled down across the streets and on rooftops exposing residents to fatalities resulting from electrocution .
The free flow of traffic which is characteristics of Calabar has been inhibited due some ornamental trees that fell across the streets causing hold-ups.
However, as at the time of this report efforts were being made by the Calabar Urban Development Authority and staff of the PHCN to clear the roads of the obstructing materials.
Assessing the disaster across the metropolis, the Director General, Cross River State Emergency Management Agency SEMA, Mr Antigha Edem Gill described the incident as worrisome and sympathized with the victims for their losses.
The DG who visited the affected areas including the New and Old Secretariat Complex, Target, Harcourt, Ewa Nsa streets regretted that some ornamental trees that should have contained the storm by acting as windbreakers gave way on account of the intensity of the storm which was accompanied by rain.
He used the opportunity to commend some critical disaster stakeholders for their prompt response to the occasion which had to an extent cushion the effect of the disaster.
The DG who attributed the high rate of destruction of some of the structures to the lack of maintenance culture urged residents not to play down on the maintenance of their property so as to avoid unnecessary vulnerability to natural disasters.He promised that the State Government would intervene soon.
