By Nelson Manneh
With the rainy season in full swing, residents of Nema-Kunku and nearby Nema-Alkali are growing increasingly alarmed over the rising risk of floods in their communities, where stagnant rainwater has already inundated streets and seeped into compounds.
“Our fear has never been this high,” said one resident. “The streets are already filled with stagnant water from the recent downpours.”
During a recent visit to the area, this reporter observed residents stacking sandbags in front of their gates and creating makeshift walkways to access their homes. In some cases, water had already entered residential compounds.
Fatou Mboge, who moved to Nema-Kunku five years ago with her husband, described the flooding as an annual ordeal. “I do not know whether the community of Nema-Kunku is situated on a wetland because whenever it rains, the water has no place to go. The water flows into compounds causing flooding,” she said.
She recalled losing household belongings during last year’s rainy season. “My husband adjusted the walls of the compound by raising it a little during the dry season. That is why we are still able to live in the area,” she said.
Mboge urged the government to intervene through the National Disaster Management Agency. “They should conduct a study of the area in order to remedy the situation because flooding in Nema occurs yearly,” she said.
Momodou Colley, a carpenter based in Nema-Alkali, echoed similar sentiments and criticized poor urban planning. “Flooding is not a new phenomenon in our community,” he said. “The government should construct more feeder roads because the area has few or no feeder roads. This prompts vehicles to navigate through streets, thereby destroying them.”
Colley blamed the condition of the roads on unauthorized structures. “There are also some houses that are constructed along waterways, and the authorities should make sure that all those structures are removed from these water ways,” he said.
For Musa Saho, a taxi driver, maneuvering through the neighborhood has become nearly impossible. “Almost all the streets in Nema-Kunku and Nema-Alkali are destroyed by the stagnant rain water that remains in the potholes everywhere in Nema,” he said.
“Some of us do not come here when it rains. This is because vehicles do not have a place to maneuver,” Saho said. “The authorities should construct more feeder roads with gutters in the area and should establish water retention areas within the said communities.”
Children were seen playing barefoot in murky water along the flooded streets, while homeowners battled to build temporary barricades using bricks, planks, and bags of gravel to shield their properties from further damage.
As the rains continue, residents of Nema-Kunku and Nema-Alkali fear the worst is yet to come unless immediate intervention is made to address what they call a long-ignored environmental and infrastructural disaster.
