Key points
- Two brothers, aged seven and eight, were swept away before the flood peaked on Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Eight villages in Okpanku and six in Mpu are underwater, with more than 10 buildings collapsed and the Ivo Bridge cut off.
- Residents and a ward councilor blame overflow from the uncompleted Ivo River Dam, a federal project flagged by lawmakers in 2023 and 2024.
Two young brothers have died and 14 villages lie underwater after severe flooding swept through the Mpu and Okpanku communities in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, following more than 48 hours of heavy rain.
The flood began on Sunday evening and worsened sharply on Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing families to abandon their homes.
The boys, aged seven and eight, were swept away two days before the water reached its peak, according to Obinna Ogbuke, chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in Enugu and a native of Mpu.
A separate report of a third child drowning in Obiagu Okomigbo had not been confirmed by authorities at the time of filing.
Ogbuke said eight villages in Okpanku and six in Mpu were affected. More than 10 buildings have collapsed, and rice and yam farms have vanished under water.
Several shops at Afor Okpanku Market, including rice mills, have been submerged for two days.
Communities cut off
The Ivo Bridge, which links the two communities, is now under water. As a result, Mpu residents cannot reach Okpanku, and three Okpanku villages cannot reach the rest of their own town.
Officials from the National Emergency Management Agency and the state emergency agency visited but could not cross some sections. Neither could the Aninri council chairman, Ugochukwu Nwanjoku.
Displaced families have taken refuge wherever they can. Residents of Mpu are sheltering at Amachara Town Hall, those from Ukey Mpu at Ukwu Primary School and people from Amiyi Okpanku at a Methodist church. Meanwhile, rain was still falling on Wednesday afternoon and the water was still rising.
“The water is not receding, and the people need urgent attention,” Ogbuke said, warning that more lives could be lost without serious intervention.
Okpanku youth leader George Ahaefuna said a year of labor had been wiped out. “It has destroyed our crops, our rice and yam farms worth millions of naira,” he said.
The dam question
Residents point to a familiar culprit. Ward councilor Edwin Ogbuka attributed the flooding to overflow from the abandoned Ivo Dam project, and Ogbuke called the cleared but uncompleted site “a death trap.”
The Ivo River Dam appears on the Federal Government’s official profile as a 20 million cubic meter earthfill dam under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, still classified as ongoing.
In 2023, the House of Representatives noted that Mpu and Okpanku sit downstream and called for its completion.
House proceedings in October 2024 also recorded concerns that the reservoir could overflow and that an incomplete spillway had already contributed to flooding.
Nwanjoku said he had contacted Sen. Osita Ngwu and Rep. Anayo Onwuegbu, and that the senator had opened talks with the water resources ministry. A joint inspection is expected after the election.
