Mr Victor Emuankhagbon, the Chairman of Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo, on Saturday confirmed that six deaths were recorded in the flooded communities in the area.
Emuankhagbon disclosed this when he received a delegation of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and officials of the Federal Ministry of Health at Ubiaja.
He said from the casualties, one of the bodies was yet to be recovered from the flooded area.
He said no fewer than 42 communities, 8,000 houses and 35,150 were affected by the flood.
The council boss, who also bemoaned the time of response by the concerned agencies, called for a change of attitude in the manner specific responsibilities were handled by those mandated to implement them.
He also called for effective measures against natural disaster such as flooding.
According to the chairman, “the time has come for those saddled with responsibilities that affect Nigerians to focus more on long term plans rather than short term solutions.
“We are reacting to the crisis in the same old ways by adopting quick fix, temporary approach, thereafter, we all go home and relax until it happens again.
“We do this over and over again. The truth is that the time has come for us to start planning ahead because if we fail to plan, we are planning to fail.” (NAN)