About seven people lost their lives
in a rampaging flood as a result of heavy rainfall in Calabar, Cross River
State, Wednesday night.
The rain, which lasted several hours,
caused severe flooding, uprooted trees, submerged buildings and swept away cars
in some parts of the city.
At Abedem, Edim Otop, in Calabar
Municipality, flood water uprooted trees, which crashed on a house in a nearby
valley, burying six members of a family in the rubble.
Mr. Amos Akaniyene, owner of the
house, who was standing outside, escaped.
However, his pregnant wife, Ekaete,
30; his two children, David and Deborah; mother in-law, Iquo Effiong and two
other relatives, Samuel and Anthony, were crushed by the rubble of the
collapsed building.
Akpan Ubong, a neighbour, whose house
is adjacent to that of Amos, said flood water descending the hill at high speed
towards the valley, where their houses are located, uprooted trees on its path,
sending them crashing down.
He said the home of Amos, which is
directly on the path of the rampaging flood water, was crushed along with its
occupants.
It was an emotional scene as the
mangled and lifeless bodies were removed from the rubble by men of the Cross
River State Fire Service, who rushed to the scene to help rescue the victims.
Swept under
Close to the scene of the collapsed
building, a girl, aged about five, was swept away by flood water on
Atimbo-Akpabuyo Road into a gully and buried underneath concrete slabs from a
destroyed culvert.
Efforts to contact Mr. David Akate,
Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, were unsuccessful as his
mobile line was switched off.
A source said the six bodies were
removed from the rubble of the collapsed building and deposited at the mortuary
of the General Hospital, Calabar.
… kills one, sacks 101 houses in
Kebbi
AUTHORITIES of Arewa Local Government
Area of Kebbi State said, yesterday, that one person died while 101 households
were sacked by flood in the area.
“We lost one life to the flood and 42
persons sustained injuries,” Chairman of the council, Alhaji Ahmed Tanko said
in Kangiwa, Kebbi.
He said farmlands were also submerged
by the flood.
Tanko said property worth N23 million
were destroyed in nine villages, comprising Bachaka, Yeldu, Dukki, Chibiki,
Falde, Kuka Bakwai, Kangiwa, Gumindai and Alwata.
He said that the council would spend
N10 million on the resettlement of the victims, adding that the council had
also distributed 450 bags of assorted grains to the affected persons and 50
bags to widows.
Tags
Society