The rain that fell in some parts of Rivers State that took the day of Saturday 11thJune 2011, caused slow movement among the people, and damaged property worth thousands of naira in Oyigbo. The Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV), Odimegwu Onwumere, reports on the effects and the cause of the flood:

The once flood-free Aladimma Street axis along Shell Location road, which is the major entrance to Oyigbo main town, Oyigbo Local Government Area (OYILGA), Rivers State, experienced an equivalent of Tsunami Saturday 11th June, 2011, in the rain that started by 8.30AM and lasted throughout the day

It was not an easy experience for vehicular and pedestrians and residents in the area. Many were lockout from using the road due to flood, except those who had no alternate than to ignore the flood that entered the road for whatever reason of theirs.

In Aladimma Street, the flood took over the street and caused many people packing their belongings for safety, while many baled water from their abodes. It was mindsore and eyesore to this reporter who could not help but chronicle the sufferings of the residents.

Opposite Aladimma Street, is a block industry. The operator, Mr. Damian Okoro, would ever remain all his life to remember this flood, as he counted his hundreds of blocks worth thousands of naira damaged by the flood.

“These are blocks molded hours before the rain started,” he told this reporter, uncovering the block for evidence. “But as you can see, they have all been damaged by the flood.”

Whether he had experienced such damage to his blocks during previous rains and the untold flood that covered the entire place before, Mr. Okoro who claimed that he had resided in the area for the past forty years said no.

Some residents whom grief was written on their faces besieged this reporter and bespoke that their predicament started since two to three years today. One bulky man among them who claimed anonymity pinpointed that they started experiencing the 'Tsunami” since First Bank built its branch in the area.

Asked how bank which is supposed to be responsible for money matters would be fingered in a matter supposed to be environmental matter, the man bemoaned: “There is a drainage system built by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) between Chief Charles Ebelebe's compound and where you see the First Bank today. The bank's premises used to be an empty plot of land before First Bank bought it. The drainage is not on the land the bank bought, it is on the boundary of Ebelebe's house and the bank's. When the bank started building, they built on the drainage and blocked it not allowing easy passage of water to a big burrowed pit at the back of the two compounds.

It was gathered that before the bank built on the said land, the residents used to work on the drainage and on the surrounding gutters adjoined to the drainage during the compulsory monthly sanitation exercise, a feat which used to allow easy flow of rainfall into the burrowed pit. But today, they no longer have assess to the drainage occasioned by its alleged blockage by First Bank.

In another vein, it was gather that First Bank is not the only factor causing the alleged blockage, some of the residents alleged that a church, Jesus Ministries Int'l, is also a contributing factor. According to the residents, the church participated in the blockage because the church shares a common boundary with the bank at the back side of the bank.

But in a swift reaction, some discordant voices said that the church is not the problem but the bank. In their thoughts, “If the bank had not build on the waterway built for us by the SPDC, the church could not have had the temerity to block the drainage on its part because the church's new building is at the back of the bank. However, we are calling on the authorities to help us tell the bank and the church to remove whatever structure they have on the drainage to enable us have free assess to the drainage and clean it as we used to.

Whether the flood was the heralded impending flood in Rivers State the state government had sounded its coming loud and clear, it's believed that even though that there have been expectant heavy downpour in the state due to the climate change, the Aladimma axis's flood is believed to be man made, caused by the alleged blocked drainage.

It could be recalled that on February 25, 2011, the Rivers state Government through its Information Ministry had announced that rainfall would be very heavy this year and that it would generate an untold flooding. This was contained on a meteorological report from a study on Rivers State. The disclosure made after a state Executive Council meeting on Wednesday February 23, 201, saw to the setting up of two committees to ensure that effective flood control was in place in Rivers state. But it is unfortunate that investigations have revealed that the two committees exist vagrantl Notwithstanding, when this reporter went to the premises of First Bank for their own side of the residents story, “There is no bank official around because today is Saturday,” said a dark-skinned man suspected to be a guard with the bank.