A pregnant woman died with four of her children along with five other persons in a heavy flood after an early morning rainfall in Suleja, Niger State on Saturday.
The flood also swept away some houses along waterways. It was gathered that the first incidence occurred around Unguwar-Gwari within Rafin-Sanyi area on the outskirts of the town, where the woman resided along with her husband and children, and a nearby house where two persons died.
The heavy rain was reported to have started around 4am and continued till 7am.
The chairman of Suleja council, Malam Abdullahi Maje, said the remains of the deceased were taken to the Suleja General Hospital morgue after a search mission.
The Suleja Zonal Coordinator of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Umar Abdullahi, said three children and their sibling lost their lives when the flood forced its way into their compound around Living Faith Church area in Madalla, a neighboring town.
Many houses, vehicles, and other valuables were submerged in the flood, even as some people were declared missing.
The husband of the pregnant woman, Iboma ThankGod Ibedike, told our reporter that the fence collapsed after which the house also went down.
“I went outside to ascertain the level of the water from outside the compound when another wall attached to the building also collapsed, that was when the flood took away my family members,” he said.
Woman, 4 kids drown in Gwagwalada flood
Elsewhere in Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory, a 27-year-old housewife, Habibat Hameed, and her four children drowned in a heavy flood in Giri community in the area council.
The children included; Latifat, Rahamat, Abdulateef and Rabiu. A neighbour of the family, Israel Musa, said the incident took place around 3:12 am after heavy flood submerged houses near a river in the area.
He said the woman and her four children were sleeping in their room when they were trapped by rising waters.
“Before rescue could come their way, the flood had already taken over the house,” he said.
He said the corpse of the deceased woman’s first son was later recovered from a short distance from the bank of the river and was later buried.
“But the corpses of the woman and her children are yet to be recovered as efforts are still on to see how they will be recovered,” he added.
Another resident, Samson Iyah, whose four houses were submerged, said he was still in shock.
He said flood destroyed the four houses which he built with mud block, and destroyed valuables, while appealing to the FCT administration to come to the aid of victims.
Iyah, added that the flood crossed over the Abuja-Lokoja highway, which he said forced some motorists to turn back.
Another victim, Abdullahi Yakubu, said his house and that of his three neighbours were destroyed and valuables such as electronics, mattresses and some other items were destroyed by the flood.
Our reporter gathered that the torrential downpour covered the Gwagwalada-Abuja-Lokoja road forcing some motorists coming form both lanes to park.
2 feared dead, 6 injured, 10 trapped in Abuja collapsed building
Two people were feared dead when a building collapsed at the Panteka area of Dawaki, an Abuja urban slum along the Kubwa Expressway at about 10am yesterday, witnesses said.
A witness, Usman, said the victims were Niger Republic nationals working at a construction site. He said they were water vendors but engaged in menial jobs at construction sites since the beginning of the rainy season.
One of the injured victims, Hamisu Abdullahi, said: “I cannot say what happened, I was on the second floor working when it happened. I was rescued alongside others. I cannot say the number of people trapped but there were six that were taken to hospital for treatment.”
Abdullahi said he was fortunate because he was at the top of the building and was not trapped.
The Director-General of the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Abbas Idriss, said 10 people were trapped in the building.
He said one was injured while three were rescued and taken to the hospital.
“We cannot identify their nationalities yet. The public should always follow the approved building plan, they should not contravene the masterplan. Should they want to change, they should consult the necessary government agencies,” he said.
The Director, Department of Development Control of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Muktar Galadima, said he was not aware of an approved building plan for the building.
He said due process was not followed by the developer, as he built the two-storey building within two weeks, contravening engineering standards.
“On the 17th of this month when our officers were monitoring the development, they noticed the modification of the building from a bungalow to a two-storey building so they served him a stop-work notice. Taking advantage of the weekend, the developer resumed work, unfortunately, this incident happened,” he said.
He said legal action would be taken against the developer while integrity tests would be conducted on surrounding structures.
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