According to weather.gov “Flash Floods can be caused by a number of things, but is most often due to extremely heavy rainfall from thunderstorms

“The intensity of the rainfall, the location and distribution of the rainfall, the land use and topography, vegetation types and growth/density, soil type, and soil water-content all determine just how quickly the Flash Flooding may occur, and influence where it may occur.

“Urban Areas are also prone to flooding in short time-spans and, sometimes, rainfall (from the same storm) over an urban area will cause flooding faster and more-severe than in the suburbs or countryside. The impervious surfaces in the urban areas do not allow water to infiltrate the ground, and the water runs off to the low spots very quickly.

"Flash Flooding occurs so quickly that people are caught off-guard. Their situation may become dangerous if they encounter high, fast-moving water while traveling. If people are at their homes or businesses, the water may rise quickly and trap them, or cause damage to the property without them having a chance to protect the property.“

In North Eastern USA, flash flooding and tornadoes killed at least 14 persons in the past 24 hours while in Spain it wrecked havoc, too. About a month ago, flash flooding wrecked havoc in Lagos.

Meanwhile, NiMet, in one of its recent advisory, predicted flash flooding in many states in Nigeria including Abia and we promptly informed and sensitized our people.

“The Agency disclosed some States that could be affected to include; Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Kebbi, Niger, FCT, Plateau, Adamawa, Taraba, Kwara, Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Abia and River States.” - Vanguard Newspaper, August 25th, 2021

Last week, heavy rains inundated Aba and other parts of Abia State for days with Aba being particularly hard hit because of the topography of the commercial city. Ordinarily, the damage to infrastructure and possibly loss of human lives would have been enormous if not for the work done by the Ikpeazu administration in the past 6 years.

Since Goveenor Ikpeazu was inaugurated in 2015, he insisted that all roads done by his administration in Aba must have double drains that empty into a major drainage channel that will deliver rainwater into the natural storm water collection point in Aba, the Waterside River. Indeed, in its early years the administration partially dredged Waterside to enable the river receive more storm water as the government embarked on opening closed drainage channels and constructing new ones.

It is safe to say that even though Aba has been at the receiving end of potential flash flooding predictions by NiMet, we have not witnessed any loss of life as a result and no major infrastructure collapse or failure witnessed as the storm water usually drains out after each heavy rainfall.

Even in the instant case where Ahia Ohuru recently experienced flash flooding as a result of exceptionally heavy rainfall, the water drained shortly after the rains abated and no life was lost. There was also no major damage to properties.

What that means is that the control system put in place by the administration worked, to the glory of God, even though our hardworking people, unfortunately, experienced different levels of discomforts as a result of the flash flooding.

It is important to note that since the 80s, only the Ikpeazu administration has moved deliberately to solve the flooding challenges around the Ifeobara and Ndiegoro axis of Aba, a task the government has had to push forward with even in the midst of deliberate booby traps and sabotage placed on its path by political actors who would rather politick on the age old pains of our people.

To further demonstrate its commitment to reduce incidents that are usually associated with flooding, the Ikpeazu administration is already reconstructing Ndiegoro axis with work actively going on along Ngwa Road. Surely, the phased reconstruction of Ngwa Road has denied naysayers their much desired photo-ops.

There is also ongoing work along Ifeaobra axis with phased reconstruction of Ariaria market soon to kick off.

If the purpose of sharing videos of Ahia Ohuru or any part of Aba for that matter is to disparage the government, those involved have failed because we are far ahead of them in identifying problems and putting the necessary solutions in place. Yet, it must be noted that even much more developed cities and countries are not immune to flash flooding as was experienced in USA and other places shown in this video.

Our commitment has never been to solve all Abia problems, but, instead, it is to solve as many problems as possible in order to deliver better life to our people.

Please, feel free to blame us for not stopping heavy rains from falling in Aba and Abia State; we apologize upfront for that with an assurance that as soon as relevant technology becomes available to reduce or stop heavy rainfall induced flash flooding, we will move to acquire the technology to make life even much better for Ndi Abia who remain the most hardworking people in the world.

Signs of rapture.