- Governor Adeleke condoles victims, vows to prevent further disaster
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Many residents of Osogbo and other towns in Osun State have suffered huge losses after a brief rainfall resulted in devastating floods that submerged houses and business places.
The Point gathered that two children were swept away by a flash flood at the back of Moye Oil at Dada Estate, Osogbo.
After about an hour and some minutes of rainfall on Saturday, the resultant flood was said to have gushed into a home in the area, submerged two siblings said to be playing in their compound at about 5:55pm of the weekend and swept them away.
A resident of the area, simply identified as Taiwo, informed The Point that some grown up neighbours were able to quickly rescue one of the victims. The whereabout of the second child had yet to be known as of the time of filing this report.
“The flood incident was sudden and the children were playing in their compound. When it rushed into the compound, it carried the children away but immediately, some people in the neighbourhood rescued one of them. They were still searching for the other child as at Saturday night when I was at the area,” Taiwo explained.
It was gathered that the rain, which started around 4:20pm, caused flood that also wreaked havoc on many other houses, shops and business places in Osogbo.
At Oke-Baale area, the flood affected shops of tailors and food vendors. It was the same situation at a popular sawmill at Oke-Baale as the rain washed away some planks.
The flood disaster also occured at Onireke junction, Akepe area, along Ibokun road, Osogbo. “This incident is saddening. Please, government should come to assist and support the victims,” a resident said.
The brief but heavy rain forced hundreds of people to flee from their homes even as traders in Shasha Market, Oke Baale, Alekunwodo, Obate, all in the state capital, counted losses, owing to the destruction it caused.
Although no life was lost in these areas, many houses, shops and kiosks were submerged in water while several thousands of naira worth of heaps of cassava, bags of garri and beans were washed away.
The husband of one of the traders affected by the flood, Taofeek Amodu, said he rushed to the area after receiving a telephone call from his wife to move some goods out of her shop before the place was flooded.
He explained that many market men and women who were caught unawares and scampered for safety suffered huge losses.
Also, one of the traders affected by the floods, Isiaka Ojolowo, said he and other traders quickly rushed out of their shops and that they were only able to take a few items out before the flood took over.
“It has been been an annual ritual for this to happen to us but we didn’t expect it so early. A similar scenario happened during the late heavy rain around September and October last year when Akintokun river in Igbo-Ifa overflowed its bank, causing huge havoc to traders in the area. I was one of those badly affected as some of my rams were flushed away. In fact, a big cow was lost after efforts to prevent the flood from taking it away failed. It was a sad experience,” he said.
When asked about efforts made to inform the government, Ojolowo said, “The damages caused here annually are always heartbreaking and I think it is high time the government did something to the area. We reported this to the past government but nothing was done even after several visits.”
Proferring solution, he said, “There should be a bridge to channel the stream to the one in Igbo-Ifa but the past administration only put cemented rings there, which are too narrow for the river to navigate during the rainy season.”
“We therefore call on Governor Ademola Adeleke to help us construct a bridge to expand the channels where the river can easily flow. It’s just two months into the rainy season and we’re experiencing this, we don’t know what will happen towards the end of the year but we believe our amiable Governor Adeleke can come to our rescue,” the trader submitted.
Meanwhile, Governor Adeleke has directed relevant agencies of government to activate the state’s flood prevention plans with immediate effect.
According to a statement issued by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed on Sunday, the governor issued the directives after receiving reports of the inspection of the Osogbo flash floods, which affected several areas of the state capital.
The Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye, and other top government officials were said to have visited scenes of the flash flood Saturday evening.
“Governor Adeleke specifically instructed the Ministry of Environment, Works and other associated agencies to speed up work on all ongoing channelisation projects and launch the implementation of flood prevention agenda of the state government.
“Part of the programmes include clearing of blocked drainage and waterways, removal of structures blocking river lines, sensitization against refuse dumping in waterways and continuation of channelisation programmes of the administration,” the statement read.
