Flood renders many homeless in Ibadan

Hundreds of residents in Ibadan, Oyo State capital have suffered losses following a torrential rainfall that flooded more than 30 homes on Sunday.Many residents, it was gathered have started relocating from Ososami, Oke-Ado and Aresa areas of Ibadan, where the water level was reportedly high. Some of the victims have been rendered homeless as they claimed they have no other means to secure new apartments.

Also, property worth several millions of naira went down in the raging flood streaming from the Ogunpa river, which channels were visibly blocked by sewage. The downpour, which started at about 4:30p.m. on Sunday, lasted for about four hours, leaving many areas flooded.

A two-storey building and a church, Christ Apostolic Church, at Omigade street, Osasami, Ibadan in Ibadan South West Local Government Area, were damaged as the rain pulled down a stretch of the buildings’ fence.

When newsmen visited some of the affected areas, many people were found outside with their property, trying to savaged some like foams, chairs, carpets and clothes among others.

A resident, Mr. Abdulkareem Subair, who also suffered losses in the flood, said: “I was inside my room when the rain started at about 4:30p.m. After some time, one of my sons called out, saying there was water covering everywhere. That was when we came out and found out that we have been trapped by flood inside the house.

“The entire area has been covered by water. We started scooping water and trying to free the drainage around to pave way for the water. It was a terrible experience. As I am talking to you, we don’t know where to sleep today as another rain is about to fall again,” he narrated.Another victim, Mr. Aminu Momoh, who blamed the flooding on indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways and buildings nears water channels thanked God that no lives were lost in the flood.
According to him, the story would have been different if it had happened in the night.

Momoh, who was busy packing out his flooded household goods for washing and drying, narrated how a fence fell in the building, and how the entire ground floor was flooded by water, saying the whole building would have been covered and lives lost if people had gone to bed.

A Christ Apostolic Church building at Ososami was completely flooded. The members were said to be full of gratitude to God that it was not during service when the incident occurred.As at the time of filling this report, another flooding has occurred in Ibadan following yesterday’s downpour. The areas affected are Oke-Ado, Liberty Road, Ososami and Oke-Ayo areas of Ibadan.