Three killed, two others injured as flood ravages Plateau community

Sani Bello, a relative of the deceased, who are all members of the same family, told newsmen the incident occurred on Wednesday at about 5:30p.m. when heavy downpour, which lasted hours, gathered water in the narrow waterway and collapsed a fence that pulled down nearby structures.

“The victims were in the house when the rain started. They all remained indoors but because the waterways were blocked and the ground soaked, the building collapsed on them. The water washed three of them away and they died in the process. One of them is my elder sister, she was pregnant and came here for a visit from Naraguta, a nearby community.”

Senator Istifanus Gyang, who is representing Plateau North Senatorial district, visited the area yesterday to commiserate with the people and assist them with resources to create waterways and rebuild their homes. Represented by Daniel Dem, Gyang gave financial assistance to the affected families and urged the community to “avoid building on waterways” to avoid such unfortunate incident.

Meanwhile, the Department of Development Control (DDC) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday began the demolition of structures erected along waterways at Lokogoma district of Abuja after over two weeks warnings and evacuation notices.

The DDC had mobilized and positioned bulldozers to the site the previous night while it called on residents to vacate the area but most property owners were not interested until the bulldozers got to work removing houses, road corridors, high tension wire and sewer lines.

The DDC director, Muktar Galadima, told newsmen that over 120 structures will be removed in the first phase of demolition even as about 300 houses have been marked for demolition at the estate.It would be recalled that a tripartite meeting of the FCDA, Residents’ Association and the developers agreed on the demolition of all houses constructed along the waterways hindering other infrastructure and causing frequent flooding.