RismadarVoice Reporters
September 23, 2026
Residents of several communities in Imo State are counting their losses following days of heavy rainfall and flooding that submerged roads, disrupted transportation and left some people stranded.
The National Emergency Management Agency has commenced rescue operations in affected areas, relocating residents trapped by floodwaters to safer locations.
A senior rescue official at NEMA’s Imo State office, Innocent Nweze, said the agency had been responding to emergencies since Sunday.
According to him, residents were rescued from communities around Rochas Market, including parts of Amakaohia and Akwakuma.
Nweze advised people living in flood-prone locations to move to safer and higher ground and avoid activities that could expose them to further danger.
He said emergency response stakeholders in Imo and neighbouring Abia State had been placed on heightened alert to respond to possible emergencies.
Nweze also disclosed that NEMA had distributed relief materials to victims of a windstorm in Umuori and Ekemegbuoha communities in Owerri North Local Government Area.
The materials included blankets, mosquito nets, vegetable oil, spaghetti and tomato paste.
Meanwhile, residents of Emeabiam, FUTO, Eziobodo, Ihiagwa, Umuguma, Ohaozara, Amakaohia, World Bank, Federal Housing, Works Layout and New Owerri were assessing the impact of the flooding.
Several days of intense rainfall left sections of roads underwater, disrupted vehicular movement and forced some residents to remain indoors.
The disruption has also affected public transportation, with commuters reporting sharp increases in fares on some routes.
A commercial bus driver in Umuguma, Michael Okere, said some drivers had temporarily withdrawn their vehicles from affected routes over concerns that driving through floodwaters could damage them.
Okere said the reduction in available commercial vehicles resulted in fares on some routes increasing from about ₦500 to ₦1,000 on Monday.
A civil servant identified as Mrs Nnadi said she paid ₦1,500 to travel from World Bank Junction to Umuguma Junction, raising concerns about the financial burden on workers who still needed to report for duty.
Residents in Umuguma also complained that the flooding had severely restricted movement in the area.
Ezirim Ernest, who said he had lived in Umuguma for 15 years, said he had remained indoors since Thursday because floodwater had covered parts of the community.
He called on the Imo State Government to intervene over the condition of the road linking the Federal and Imo Housing estates and to review the work being carried out by the contractor handling the project.
Sections of Okigwe Road and Wethral Road were also reported to have experienced flooding following the heavy rainfall, with drainage challenges cited as contributing to water accumulation.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Imo State Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, on the government’s response to the flooding were unsuccessful at the time of the report.
