The Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has handed civil servants in the State a seven-day time-off from work aside those on essential services, due to difficulties being faced as a result of the flood disaster ravaging the State.

Governor Diri in a statewide broadcast on Tuesday morning, said though the flood is a natural disaster that has affected many other States of the Federation to various degrees, nearly a million people in over 300 communities in the State, have been internally displaced while some deaths have been reported.

He also confirmed that the state was facing humanitarian crisis with over one million persons displaced across Sagbama, Ekeremor, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Yenagoa, Nembe and Kolokuma Opokuma local government areas while businesses shut, properties lost and farmlands destroyed.

He said critical infrastructure like hospitals, roads, bridges and schools, including the state-owned Niger Delta University in Amassoma, the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, and the University of Africa, Toru-Orua, have been severely affected.