Mr. Mustafa Allah-Dey, the chairman of the state branch of the society, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) released the boats for the rescue operation.
Allah-Dey said men of the Nigerian Navy and officials of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the state Ministry of Environment were also involved in the operation, adding that many of the victims were said to be in life threatening situations.
He said the people should be blamed for their present predicament, adding that they failed to heed several warnings to quit their houses to avoid being trapped.
The chairman said he did not have the figure of exact number of people trapped and that no report of casualties had been received as at the time of this report. He only described the situation in Ibaji as “very terrible.”
Meanwhile, the traffic gridlock on Lokoja-Abuja Road has become more chaotic with vehicles forming long queues on both sides of the road.
The queue at the Lokoja end of the road had extended to Obajana village, about 15 km drive to the Lokoja city centre.
Mr. Isaac Martins, the head of operations of the state Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), who confirmed this to NAN, said there was not much the commission could do to help the situation.
He said the problem was particularly with the small cars, adding that it took officials and youths assisting them an average of 20 minutes to help a car out of the water.
“Vehicles are moving but they are moving slowly, that is just the situation at hand now,’’ Martins said.
He appealed to motorists to make use of alternative roads pending the time the flood would ebb.(NAN)
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