Fides Media Living the Faith
By Ikeugonna Eleke
At least one person lost his life, while two others escaped death from floods after a torrential rainfall hit Awka last Sunday.
Also, over 10 vehicles were swept into drainage canals along the Enugu – Onitsha Expressway as a result of the rainfall which began at about 5pm, while several houses lost either their fences or roofs.
Fides correspondent who went round Awka the following Monday, gathered that an unknown man who was said to be a visitor to Awka decided to seek refuge in a hotel before continuing his journey the next day as a result of the heavy rainfall which also caused a power blackout in the city. However, he was said to have mistakenly missed his steps while crossing the drainage and was swept into the drainage canal.
Residents of UNIZIK Junction area told Fides that the body of the unidentified victim was found on Wednesday morning at Iyiagu drainage were the flood had dumped him.
‘Usually, that place is where even dirt are dumped when they get thrown into drainage. So this morning we decided to go there and check, and behold, we saw the man. He was a grown up man, and there was nothing on him with which we could identify him,’ a resident of the area said.
Also, in Amawbia Community near Awka, about 400 school pupils were cut off from their school as they could not access their schools on Wednesday after a major drainage in the area was cut by the flood.
Meanwhile, Just last week, two children were saved from their untimely death after a heavy rain swept them into a gully as they were coming back from the farm, and it took the timely intervention of workers at a building site to save the situation.
According to one of the children, Miss Tochi Nwanna, 16 years old, ‘we were carrying fire wood and the flood was too much and we did not know where to step on and suddenly my younger brother fell into the flood and when I tried to hold him, I did not know how I fell in also.’
Meanwhile, over 300 families have been sacked by the gully erosion occasioned by flooding in six villages of Amawbia Community in Awka South Local Government area of Anambra State.
The community has also been cut off from its kit and kin in the neighbouring Nise, Nibo, Umuokpu and Agukwu Nri Towns
According to the Director, Community Environmental Media Awareness (CEMA) Mr. Okey Maduforo, the situation needed urgent attention by the state government before the entire community was sacked.
‘Also affected by the erosion are, Union Secondary School, Kabe College, and Mayroses Hotel,’ he said, explaining that the link roads to those public facilities had become inaccessible by motorists and other road users in Adabebe Village.