Flood Sweeps Off 6 Roadside Traders In Onitsha

Six roadside jeans and T-shirts sellers were, Saturday evening, feared dead as they fell into a drain and were swept away by flood during a downpour.

The incident, according to an eyewitness, occurred at about 7p.m. at the foot of Upper Iweka flyover bridge by Ezeiweka Road Junction, along Onitsha-Owerri Road, Onitsha, Anambra State.

The eyewitness said the traders were doing their businesses on planks laid across the Sakamori gutter, when the planks suddenly broke and they fell in.

Passers-by, who witnessed the incident, cried helplessly as no one dared jump into the rampaging flood. At press time, the bodies of the traders had not been recovered and no one could establish their identities.

The source hinted that traders had for a long time converted the Sakamori area into a roadside clothes market, probably due to their inability to pay for a shop in any of the markets in the commercial city.

 

We’re not aware—POLICE

However, Police Area Commander for Onitsha, Mr. Philip Ezekiel, told newsmen, yesterday, that he was not aware of the incident, adding that the scene was within Awada Police Division.

Also, the Divisional police Officer at Awada, Mr. Joseph Dimale, told newsmen on phone that he was not also aware of the incident.

Dimale added that he would send his men to the scene to ascertain the true position of things.

The Publicity Secretary of Anambra Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, AMATAS, Uzor A. Uzor, described the incident as very unfortunate and regretted that most of the traders in Onitsha do not like to move into the market, where there were vacant shops, but preferred to do business on the roadsides.

Flood Destroys 200 Rice Farms In Dutse

The Village Head of Warwade, Alhaji Ado Musa, has said flood washed away over 200 rice farms valued at N20 million in his community in Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

Musa made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse on Sunday.

He said the menace was as a result of a heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding caused by tributaries of the dam in the area in the last few days.

“All the rice we planted in over 200 farms at the bank of the dam was destroyed because the dam was overfilled with water.

“We lost rice of over N20 million because we planted on north, south, east and west sides of the dam and the water has submerged it all, and the fishes in dam were feeding on the rice day in day out,” he said.

The village head recalled that it was predicted that low rainfall would be recorded in 2015, and as a result, farmers decided to plant the rice close to dam.

According to him, the motive behind planting close to the dam is that the farmers could use it to water the rice in case of short rainfall as predicted.

“We decided to plant close to the dam based on the prediction that low rainfall would be recorded this year so that we can use the dam to water the rice to reap, but the reverse is the case,” Musa said.