About 173,049 people have been estimated to be currently battling food crisis in Adamawa state because of the floods that sacked their communities in October.
The people are from 141 communities, Muhammadu Sulaiman, the Executive Secretary of Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency, ADSEMA, said.
Mr Sulaiman told newsmen on Wednesday that 7,666 houses were destroyed by the disaster.
According to him, 101,929 farmlands in seven local government areas were also destroyed by the flood.
He said that the floods came from the volume of water in River Benue, adding that those displaced had been camped in nine temporary Internally Displaced Persons camps.
“The temporary camps are located in Yola North, Yola South, Girei and Demsa Local Government Areas,” he said.
According to Mr Sulaiman, that flood destroyed about 60 per cent of rain feed crops in the affected areas, and expressed fear of possible hunger if urgent measures were not taken to avoid famine.
The executive secretary appealed to the federal government and other relevant humanitarian agencies to assist the affected communities with relief materials and dry season farming inputs.
He said that the worst hit areas included Fufore, Yola South, Yola North, Girei, Demsa, Numan and Lamurde.
Alhaji Muhammadu Gidado, the District Head of Ribadu, who also spoke to newsmen, said that the flood affected farmers in all the 11 wards in his district.
Mr Gidado, who is also the Chief of Fufore, said that he was disturbed by the level of destruction to farmlands in the district, saying that there was nothing left to feed their families.
“Farmers in the 11 wards lost everything to the flood.
“These farmers usually harvest between 100 and 500 bags of rice and between 500 and 1,000 bags maize yearly.
“Now, they cannot harvest 10 bags of any crop because of the flood.
“I fear possible famine if government does not intervene immediately,” he said.
Alhaji Ilyasu Harun, a large scale rice farmer from Tingno village in Lamurde, said he had lost everything to the flood.
“I am still shocked by the level of devastation caused by the flooding this year,” he said.
