Residents of Onne in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State are counting their losses after torrential rains wreaked havoc in the community on Monday.
The rain pulled down trees, electric poles, pillars and cables, some of which fell on houses and caused serious damage.
Our reporter learnt that some streets in the community were made inaccessible as a result of fallen pillars and electric poles while household properties were swept away by the ensuing flood. Several cars were also crushed by fallen pillars and electric poles.
Some of the residents, who spoke with our reporter, lamented the damage caused their properties as a result of the heavy rainfall.
A resident, John Allalibo, said the pillars of his fence fell as a result of the deluge.
“It was really a disaster as we watched rain destroy our properties. The rain, which is the first this year, came with heavy wind. Before you knew it, trees, pillars and electric poles began to be pulled down.
The wave pulled down the pillars holding my fence and part of it collapsed. I thank God that nobody was hurt but the damage will cause me a lot to fix,” he said.
Another resident, Oluka Jonna, said many electric poles in his area were uprooted by the flood.
“Monday’s rain caused a lot of havoc in Onne community. The rain, which came with heavy wind, pulled down electric poles. So many of these poles were pulled down and it will take some time to fix them back. What that means is that we are not going to have electricity for a long time,” he said.
Another resident, who simply gave his name as Chuka, said the downpour damaged his car.
“I was not lucky enough to remove my car from where I parked it before the rain started and electric poles fell on the car. It caused a lot of damage. Both the front and back windscreens were damaged,” he said.
Some of the residents of the community were seen removing debris as well as poles that were destroyed by the rain.
Onne is the economic hub of Rivers State and Nigeria having played host to multi-billion naira public and private investments.
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