RAPHAEL EDE writes on the devastating flooding that ravaged the boundary communities of Enugu and Ebonyi states, leaving a trail of destruction and deaths
For residents of Mpu and Okpanku communities in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, the rise of the Ivo River was seasonal, intermittent rainfall was not new, even flooded farmlands was not an unusual sight. But on the evening of September 20, 2026, the water came differently. It did not retreat after the usual downpour. It kept rising. For more than 48 hours, the rain pounded the communities, swelling the Ivo River until its waters spilt into homes, farms, markets and roads. What began as another rainy-season evening soon became a humanitarian emergency.
By Wednesday, September 23, two children, aged seven and eight, had been swept away and killed by the flood, according to community accounts. Fourteen villages across Mpu and Okpanku were reported submerged, while buildings, farmlands, shops and roads disappeared beneath the water.
At Afor Okpanku market, traders watched helplessly as water entered shops and rice mills, submerging goods that had taken years of savings to acquire. The popular Ivo Bridge was also swallowed, severing a major link between communities.
For families living close to the river, the immediate concern was no longer how to save their property, but how to get their children, elderly relatives and other vulnerable persons to safety. Residents began moving to schools, town halls and churches, carrying whatever they could salvage. For some, there was nothing left to carry.
Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Enugu State Council, Obinna Ogbuke, is from Mpu. For him, the disaster was not a distant news event. It was happening in his home community. “I have never seen this kind of flood.” He said eight villages in Okpanku and six in Mpu were affected.
“My community, Mpu, and Okpanku community in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, I’ve never witnessed this kind of high level of flooding before. It’s so bad, so devastating,” Ogbuke said. He described scenes of houses being submerged and buildings collapsing after the water remained for almost two days. The road linking Mpu and Okpanku was cut off. The bridge that residents depended on for movement disappeared beneath the floodwaters. Even officials who arrived to assess the situation were unable to cross.
Ogbuke said personnel from the National Emergency Management Agency and the Enugu State Emergency Management Agency visited but could not access some affected areas because of the water. “The water is not receding, and the people need urgent attention. It’s an emergency that needs a very serious intervention. If not, we may begin to lose more people,” he warned.
Temporary shelter
Some displaced residents from Mpu took refuge at Amachara Town Hall. Others moved to schools, while residents of Amiyi Okpanku sought shelter in a Methodist church. But even as survivors searched for somewhere dry to sleep, the flood continued to spread. Behind the statistics are families mourning children who never made it to safety. Ogbuke said two children, brothers aged seven and eight, died after being swept away by the flood. “They were two little kids -one is seven, the other one, his brother, is eight,” he said. There was also a report of another child from Obiagu Okomigbo in Mpu being drowned, although the identity and circumstances surrounding that death had not been formally confirmed by the relevant authorities at the time of the report. The loss has deepened fears among residents who remain surrounded by water. For them, every further rainfall brings another question: how long before the water rises again?
A year’s harvest disappears
In Okpanku, the flood not only destroyed houses. It erased months of work. George Ahaefuna, a youth leader in the community, said crops that families had depended on for food and income were destroyed. “Since I was born, I have never seen this kind of flood in my life,” he said. “Rice and yam farms worth millions of naira were submerged.”
For farmers already operating on limited resources, the loss means more than damaged crops. It means lost income, food insecurity and uncertainty about how to begin the next farming season. At Afor Okpanku market, traders faced a similar crisis. One shop owner said goods worth millions of naira had remained underwater for two days. She appealed for assistance to rebuild homes destroyed by the flood so displaced families could return.
Councillor representing Mpu Ward, Edwin Ogbuka, described the situation as life-threatening, while community leader Chukwu Magnus said six villages in Mpu had been displaced.
The dam question
As residents struggled to survive, another issue returned to the centre of the crisis: the unfinished Ivo River Dam. The Federal Government’s dam profile describes the Ivo River Dam as a 20-million-cubic-metre earthfill dam in Aninri, Enugu State, under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and classified as ongoing. The project has previously attracted concerns over flooding. The report states that in 2023, the House of Representatives noted that Mpu and Okpanku were downstream of the dam and called for its completion. Proceedings in October 2024 also recorded concerns about possible reservoir overflow during the rainy season and the incomplete spillway.
Residents have repeatedly linked flooding in the area to the abandoned or incomplete project. Ogbuke was emphatic in attributing the latest disaster to the dam project. “I can attribute the cause of this devastating flood to the abandoned Ivo Dam project by the Federal Government,” he said, describing the project as a risk to communities downstream.
According to him, the flood has progressively moved from farmlands towards residential areas. The latest disaster, he said, showed that the problem was no longer confined to agricultural land.
The Aninri Local Government Chairman, Ugochukwu Nwanjoku, said he had contacted federal lawmakers Osita Ngwu and Anayo Onwuegbu over the emergency and shared photographs showing the devastation. He said discussions had begun with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources concerning the situation and the Ivo Dam reservoir. “This is practically unacceptable. What a loss!” Nwanjoku said.
NEMA intervention
An assessment by the National Emergency Management Agency’s Enugu Operations Office provided another picture of the scale of the disaster. NEMA, working with the Enugu State Emergency Management Agency and community representatives, identified nine affected communities: Okpu, Ihube, Ihuoke, Ukey, Amaeze, Ama Chara, Obiagu, Ovum and Obeagu. The agency said torrential rainfall and the overflow of the Ivo Dam caused significant inundation. Its assessment found that accessible bridges had been submerged, about 2,000 houses were affected, and large expanses of cultivated farmland were destroyed.
It was gathered that several families were still trapped in some locations while evacuation efforts continued, just as hundreds of displaced people were taking shelter at Christ Methodist Church, Ihube, Okpanku.
During a visit to the shelter, the Head of Operations, NEMA Enugu Operations Office, Priscilla Madukwe, expressed sympathy with the victims and assured them that the Federal Government was aware of the situation.
For the displaced families, however, relief cannot come quickly enough. They need food, clean water, shelter, medical assistance and the means to begin rebuilding their lives.
Ebonyi spillover
The devastation did not stop in Enugu. Communities in Ivo Local Government Area of neighbouring Ebonyi State were also hit by severe flooding after heavy rainfall caused rivers to overflow their banks. Houses were submerged or collapsed, farmlands destroyed and household belongings washed away, leaving many families homeless.
In Amaegbu Village in Umuobor community, Chairman Okoro Abia said the flood reached the roof of his house. “Everywhere was filled up with floodwater. Even in my own house, the water is still at the roof. Even in my own room, it has never gone,” he said. He added, “It has never happened since I was born.”
More than 134 families were reported to have been severely affected in the Ebonyi communities visited by a delegation that included members of the Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP governorship candidate, Ifeanyi Odii, donated N5m as relief for victims.
But the flood has also raised broader concerns about the vulnerability of communities along the riverbanks and the need for long-term measures to protect lives and livelihoods.
The Ebonyi State Government said it was intensifying its assessment of affected communities and coordinating emergency interventions through the Ebonyi State Emergency Management Agency. The Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Ikeuwa Omebeh, expressed concern over the destruction of homes, farms and livelihoods and said the government was pursuing relief and rehabilitation measures.
He said, “The government reiterates that the welfare and security of the people remain central to the People’s Charter of Needs administration of Governor Nwifuru. “Accordingly, no effort will be spared in addressing the immediate humanitarian needs of affected residents while also pursuing measures aimed at restoring livelihoods and strengthening community resilience against future climate-related and environmental emergencies.”
He also urged residents not to return prematurely to flood-prone areas or structurally compromised buildings until they had been declared safe.
The government said it was engaging NEMA for additional intervention and support. In Enugu, NEMA said it would continue monitoring the situation with relevant stakeholders and coordinate further response efforts.
But for families sleeping in churches, schools and town halls, the crisis is more immediate than official assessments, as they seek a dry place to sleep and the possibility of returning home. Similarly, a farmer whose rice and yam fields are underwater is thinking about the next planting season, while a trader whose goods have been submerged thinks of how to start again.
The waters may eventually recede. The mud will dry. The roads may reopen, and the markets may eventually trade again. But residents seek a permanent solution, which includes addressing the underlying causes of the recurring flooding. The people of Mpu, Okpanku and the affected Ebonyi communities fear that the next heavy rainfall could bring the same nightmare. For now, their homes remain partly or completely underwater, their farms destroyed, while their lives are suspended between survival and recovery.