Flood In Ibadan:Man loses four children, father

The Friday flood in Ibadan was a calamity for Mr Sikiru Adisa, 30, who lost his four children and his father.

Adisa, a driver who lives on Adeoye Street, Agbowo, told reporters while receiving relief materials from Oyo State Deputy Governor Moses Alake-Adeyemo in Ibadan yesterday that life is now meaningless to him, following the loss of his loved ones.www.mannastores.com

Fighting back tears, the distraught man narrated how he went to open the door after seeing streams of water in the house. According to him, the flood forced the door on him and swept him off his feet. He broke the ceiling and held a frame while his legs were suspended. Adisa said he remained hanging, until the flood subsided.

Said Adisa: “On opening the door to see how to control the flood, a six-feet tall flood confronted me and swept me off the ground. I did not know that the door was the major hinderance and the saving object. As I managed to find my feet again, the entire house had been flooded to the level that I could not locate anybody again. I just struggled to hit the ceiling and held onto a frame, hanging. I was there till the flood went down. By the time the flood went down, my father and my four children were no more.”

The rain started at about 5:30 pm and lasted till midnight. It flooded the city and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

Another victim, Mr Kunle Oke, who is said to have lost eight children and grand children in the flood in Oke Ayo, was at work at the time of the incident, according to residents. He was said to be on night duty at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan, during the incident. He reportedly called his children at home at about 10:00 pm and instructed them to leave the house after watching the intensity of the rain, but the children believed they could handle it, like previous ones. Shortly after, it was learnt, the flood trapped them inside the house.

There were conflicting reports about the whereabouts of his wife. Some said she died in the hospital; others said she was rescued.

The bodies of six of the children had been found, as at press time. Rescuers were searching for the remaining two and other victims.