By Frank Ulom
Properties worth billions of naira have been destroyed as torrential rain pounds the city of Calabar, Cross River State capital, forcing residents to scamper for safety while appealing to Governor Bassey Otu to come to their aid.
The rain, which started in the early hours of Thursday, July 16, 2026, flooded areas like Mobil by MCC, Efio-Ette, Ibok Street off Parliamentary Road, Marian by Municipality Council Secretariat, Goldie by Target, Atimbo by Arab, Ibom Layout by Ndidem Proposed Palace, Ekpo Abasi, Esuk Atu, and several other locations.
Residents were compelled to literally wrestle with the flood in order to salvage some properties and safeguard their children as the heavy flood came unaware.
A journalist and correspondent of New Telegraph Newspapers, who lives in Atimbo/Arab, also experienced the wrath of the flood as water virtually submerged his household properties, creating panic and anxiety while the downpour lasted.
Speaking on the situation, the Arab community chairman, Ntufam Alphonsus Alphonsus, while sympathising with the affected victims, explained that several times, the community had made efforts to draw government attention to the frequent flooding in the area to no avail.
“We really sympathise with families who have lost their properties today because of the heavy rainfall, which has destroyed properties, in my estimation, worth N27 million naira.
“The community leadership has been doing everything within its power to engage the government to come and do something here in Arab, but that has not materialised.
“Unfortunately, year in year out, we continue to live at the mercy of God and the flood without government assistance, which would have helped the situation,” he stated.
The retired civil servant added, “I have been out of my house since morning when some of the residents called my attention, and so far, more than a hundred houses have been flooded. If you estimate the loss of their properties, it will be nothing less than N27 million naira.”
Another victim, Richard Fomba, a furniture maker who spoke to our correspondent in tears, said, “Water entered even up to the room of my children, and it was God who made my wife go in and notice it before gathering them on top of my bed.”
According to him, the rain started without showing any sign of destruction, but before anybody noticed it, water had found its way to the sitting room and made it right down to the rooms.
Properties destroyed on Thursday included furniture, sound systems, books, certificates, clothes, kitchen utensils, air conditioners and fans, among others.
Residents have, therefore, appealed for the intervention of the state government to urgently look in the direction of Atimbo/Arab community to develop the area and construct water channels in order to arrest frequent flooding.
Similarly, residents appeal to the government as well as the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to assist victims with relief materials to cushion the impact of the flood.
This is coming in a few days after a landslide due to heavy rainfall killed five people in Ikot Anwatim, off Ikot Ansa Bustop by Murtala Mohammed Highway, Calabar Municipality.
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