3 drown as flood wreaks havoc in Ibadan, Abeokuta

BY OLA AJAYI, KOLADE LAREWAJU & GBENGA AKINWUNMI

TWO children and a  middle-aged woman were drowned in a flood after a heavy downpour that lasted several hours in Ibadan on Sunday.

According to an eyewitness, the  corpses of the victims were discovered in a stream along Lagos-Ibadan expressway yesterday morning.

Sympathisers who thronged the scene told newsmen that their corpses had been taken to the mortuary.

Also, last week property worth millions of naira was lost and several vehicles swept away on Bodija-Secretariat road.

The Sunday rain that wrecked another havoc started at about 2:30 pm lasted into the wee hours of yesterday.

The deceased were said to have been trapped in the flood while attempting to cross it.
The sad event was said to have taken place at the Old Ife Road area of the city.

Though the corpses had been taken away, some sympathizers were seen weeping uncontrollably for the lost souls.

A man, Alhaji Sulaiman Babatunde, who spoke with newsmen said: “We have pulled out over six vehicles from this river today due to the heavy rainfall that occurred yesterday. Also, three bodies including two little girls have since been recovered. I want to appeal to the State government to see to the newly built filling station that is hindering the easy passage of water. The government should also expand the river and stop people from throwing refuse inside the river”

Similarly, it was a terrible  experience for the staff of most of the Federal Government Institutions in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, at the early hours of yesterday as they were held up in a heavy traffic that occurred along Abeokuta-Ibadan road for over Five hours.

Aside staff of University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, UNAAB, Ogun Osun River-Basin Development Authority and Federal College of Education, FCE, all located along Camp and Osiele in Odeda Local Government Area of the state that were held up, commuters and traders plying the road were also affected.

 Most of the staff of the establishments appealed to Ogun State Government to create
alternative roads along the axis.

A staff of UNAAB, Mr. Kola Adepoju, who said he had been in the traffic for hours, advised that though,the road is a Federal Road, the State Government should help to arrest the situation.

According to him, “This is just too bad today, we are civil servants and we have deadline but I am sure most of the people working along this route are already late.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun, should help us to address as a matter of urgency by making it top priority by the time the government starts rehabilitation of roads in the state. There is too much concentration on this road therefore; government should create outer-ring roads such that there will be a meeting points here.”