Flood ravages Ekiti capital, destroys property, farmlands

A downpour, which lasted many hours into the early hours of yesterday has ravaged a section of Ado Ekiti, capital city of Ekiti State, cutting off some part of the metropolis from the city.The areas affected include Ureje, along Polytechnic road and adjoining communities like Boom Town, Eminrin and Ijelu village, fondly called Aba Oyinbo by commuters.

The torrential rainfall started at about 8:00p.m. on Tuesday and fell intermittently throughout the night until 6:00a.m. yesterday.A resident of the Poly road area, Mr. Segun Ojo, explained that the bridge on Ado-Ijan-Ikare road, which linked the capital city to the Federal Polytechnic and Afe Babalola University, was overran by flood.He said commuters traveling along that route between 1:00a.m. and 6:00a.m. had to pack their vehicles at a nearby petrol station and waited until it subsided. Ojo said the flood also flowed into a church and five houses around the Ureje Bridge.

“Nobody could cross that bridge to the Polytechnic side or go into Ado Ekiti. Most of the residents who woke up early caught a glimpse of the ravaging fast-moving flood.”

Also, residents of Boom Town, Eminrin, had to stay indoors till 12noon before they could cross Ureje stream that devastated their environment. Chairman of the community, Mr. Oladimeji, appealed to government to dredge the stream to lower the water to prevent a recurrence.Residents of Ikere Ekiti also felt a dose of the devastating flood, which rendered many homeless with property worth millions of naira destroyed. The affected areas in Ekiti’s second largest city are: Kajola, Adun, Ogbon in Oke Osun, and Alade filling station area in Odo Oja.

When The Guardian visited the area, many houses, livestock gardens and cars were submerged.Meanwhile, Mr. Alex Nantuam, Chairman, Shendam Local Council of Plateau State, has said farmlands worth about N70 million in Shimankar, Dokan Tofa, Angwan Rina, Angwan Dadi and Kallum communities have been destroyed by flood.

Nantuam disclosed this while handing over the disaster assessment documents to Sen. Ignatius Longjan, the Senator representing Plateau South at the National Assembly, who visited the area to sympathise with the victims and assess the level of damage. He said the council had conducted an assessment of the damage immediately the incident occurred.