Echoes of agony will continue to reverberate in minds of victims of the Friday, 4th September 2025 flood disaster in Kunini, Lau Local Government Area of Taraba State, located along River Benue.
The flood disaster instantly turned the residents from food producers to food beggars.
Several people, including women and children, are now facing food insecurity following the flood disaster that consumed food stuff, livestock, farm land and houses.
DSP Cosmos B. Bajam (rtd), the kindred head of Kuh-Nyeh and Ibrahim Umaru, the village head of Kunini, told BusinessDay that their subjects spent several hours, struggling to escape the flood which started from 10pm in the night to 5am the following day.
Both traditional rulers revealed that the situation could not allow the people to evacuate their belongings apart from taking women, children and the sick once to safe places.
Bajam said, that it was a horrible night such that properties, livestock, food stuff and houses belonging to the villagers were not spared by the water. He stated that houses collapsed and properties were flooded to River Benue in the night, while the people were struggling to survive.
Lau is located at river line of Upper Benue Basin.
Umaru, the village head, said that people’s farm land at Dornarde, Kununte, Malswe, Kunere, Kunaka, Jilei, Karawa, Kewei and Laza communities were completely flooded by the heavy rain fall.
He further disclosed that apart from farm land, the flood submerged all the sources of drinking water within the area, making life difficult to the villagers.
“For fear of outbreak of several diseases, we have no choice than to separate the IDPs and spread them across neighboring houses to squat with them; our community members are drinking water with cows and other animals in the streams, all our water sources have been contaminated by the flood.
“We are calling on both the local, state and federal governments to quickly intervene, we see eminent cholera and other waterborne diseases coming soon as a result of the flood. The village head states.
Our correspondent visit to Kunini town gathered that victims of the flood disaster were earlier evacuated and camp at Pilot Primary School Kunini for safety by the local authorities.
Lydia Istefanus, a widow and mother of 7 children who was found left at the Pilot Primary School Kunini told our correspondent that she lost everything including food stuff, her livestocks, and 3 house to the flood.
“Since the early morning of Friday, we were evacuated from our flooded house to this primary school, my 3 houses have collapsed, my goats, chickens and food stuff that I kept in the house were flooded, I have no house, no food, no shatter, am a mother of 7, we wake up here without hope of having what to eat, I have turn to a beggar within few hours despite my struggles to feed with my children. Mrs. Istefanus stated with tears.
Jimmy Audu, a Rice farmer who was found seated in his collapsed building told Business Day that he lost rice farm land worth 17 hectares to the flood disaster.
He said the aftermath of the flood is disastrous to farmers who have invested money to the 2025 wet season, revealing that himself and some farmers borrowed money from agric loan to invest during the farming season, Audu said many farms especially rice farms have washed away by the flood.
“My rice farm worth 17 hectares was washed away, the remaining part is been buried under the water for the past 4 days now, am not sure it will rise up again, myself and some of the farmers here, we went together to obtain agric loan from bank to cultivate our farms, now that flood has washed it away, the aftermath of the flood in some families is going to be disastrous, Audu stated.
Business Day while speaking with some of the victims discovered that Taraba state government through State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has provided food items to cushion the hunger.
Yakubu Yohana, councilor representing Kunini ward at Lau legislative house, while conducting BusinessDay round the affected houses and farm lands called on the government and good-spirited individuals to come to the aid of his people.
“The situation has turned my people to food seekers, even though we produce food for ourselves; it is a natural disaster, we can only pray to God and plead with the government and good-spirited individuals to come to our aid,” Yunana said.
Although the Executive Secretary SEMA, Echuseh Audu was not around in her office when our correspondent visited, to give an idea on how the state government intends to handle the disaster, Saviour Noku, Taraba State commissioner, Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management, told our correspondent that moves were on to provide portable water for the people.
“We have received allocation of good number of boreholes and will soon consider to take a good allocation of the boreholes to the most desired areas which I believe Kunini town will be good,” Noku said.
