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| Ilorin rainstorm tragedy |
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| Lagos tragedy |
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| Ilorin rainstorm tragedy |
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| Ilorin rainstorm tragedy |
Lagos state and Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, yesterday, were tragically hit by a very damaging rainstorm. Six persons including a pregnant woman and her three children were electrocuted as rainstorm swept away three others in Ilorin.
Vanguard reports that the Lagos tragedy occurred at Oworonshoki area of the state, during a heavy downpour.
Eyewitness account confirmed that the tragedy struck at Nos 6 and 8 Onabanjo Street, Oworonsoki around 2.00 am when the 11KVA high tension line suddenly snapped during the early heavy downpour accompanied by rainstorm with electricity still on the cable.
General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, while confirming the tragedy, said a cable belonging to PHCN, during the heavy rainfall, sparked when power was suddenly restored at about 2.20 am, the cable snapped and landed on a vehicle with 50 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, which immediately exploded into a ball of fire.
The incident which caused panic among residents of the area and in an attempt to run into safety, some stepped on the live cable and were electrocuted. He confirmed that six people died before the Police and other security agencies arrived the scene to restore normalcy.
“Six people died in the tragedy, which included a woman with three children and another pregnant woman with a child.”
It was also gathered that the man who was said to have lost his wife and three children, upon hearing the news was reported to have broken down, lamenting that he had lost all hope and reportedly attempted suicide before he was rushed to an hospital in the area.
One eyewitness gave the names of those who died as one Iya Fatima, who died with her child and one Iya Jonathan, who was pregnant and died with her children, adding that another boy, called Basit was also electrocuted. Stressing that the deceased were taken to the mortuary of a hospital in Yaba as they were rejected at the Gbagada General Hospital.
While Reports in Ilorin confirmed that no fewer than three people were feared dead in a downpour that destroyed property worth millions of naira and rendered hundreds of people homeless overnight.
NAN reports that two brothers identified as Basil and Gafal, aged four and three and half respectively, lost their lives while an Abuja-bound bus driver also died in the flood. NAN correspondent who visited the scene of the flood along Ajase-Ipo Road, Ilorin, reports that over 30 vehicles were damaged due to the heavy flood caused by blocked canal.
A resident of the area, Alhaji Ganiyu Suleiman of Alawari Motors, said that the bus driver, having arrived in Ilorin late, decided to sleep in his vehicle, and was washed away together with the bus.
Not less than eight houses around a hotel along the road were affected as many occupants of the buildings were seen salvaging their belongings from the debris. Clothes, kitchen utensils and other household items were being retrieved from the collapsed buildings by despondent residents.
Many of the damaged vehicles were washed away by the force of the flood while many also somersaulted. Also, many water tanks and PVC pipes belonging to a building materials dealer were washed away or damaged by the flood.
The flood also uprooted banana trees, carried them some kilometres away and deposited them in front of houses and on the main road. The Residents who spoke with newsmen said the flood was caused by the blocked canal.
Kwara State Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Abubakar Morah, who visited the scene, sympathised with the victims of the flood disaster assuring the victims that the state government would find a lasting solution to flooding in the area.
Vanguard
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