An unidentified driver might have lost his life while several property got submerged in flood as a heavy downpour left bitter tales for many residents of Osogbo, the Osun state capital.
The Muslim festival was going well with residents already looking forward to resuming back to their businesses when the holiday suddenly turned sour.
Some residents in areas like Testing Ground, Rasco, Oke-Onitea, Fiwasaye, Gbomi and Iludun in Osogbo have been counting their losses as the rain came down heavily for three hours, causing flood in many parts of the city.
Channels Television visited Oke-Onitea area, where residents were gathered looking at a canal in search of a middle-aged man said to be the driver of a Nissan Primera with registration number – Lagos LSD 683 DZ.
An eyewitness told us that the man insisted on driving through the already overflowing water but was swept off with his car, while the driver was yet to be found at the time of filing this report.
The story was different at Fiwasaye area. Residents were stranded as the bridge required to cross to the other side of the community had been washed off by the rain.
With many houses and stalls submerged by the rain, another eyewitness said that a woman and her daughter had been left stranded in their store because of the rain.
It took the intervention of some youths in the community and the Osun State Fire Service to rescue both the woman and her daughter.
One of the victims, Ifedunmade Ogundijo, who owns a fashion outfit and a salon, said that the rain had caused her about three million naira loss.
According to a report by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Osun state was identified as one of the flood-prone areas and the residents believe that the government should have been proactive to avert this occurrence.
While the residents count their losses, no official statement had been made by the Osun state government at the time of the report.
The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency had in July predicted flash flood in Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Makurdi and Yola.
The outlook also predicted that some of the nation’s rivers would overflow its bounds, naming Niger, Benue, Sokoto-Rima, Anambra-Imo, Cross River and Ogun-Osun rivers among those.
Some of the affected states have since the 2016 prediction embarked on programmes to prevent the level of devastation just witnessed in Osun state.
Akwa Ibom state government had in August directed the chairmen of its 15 Local Government Areas to build rescue and emergency camps in anticipation of flooding.
The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and Ministry of Environment, suggested that building emergency camps would be necessary in order to accommodate victims, should a flood disaster occur.
The Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in conjunction with trainers from the Southeast Zonal National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also conducted a capacity building workshop on Basic Skills in Search and Rescue.
At least 170 persons received training in search and rescue operations as part of the contingency plans for the predicted 2016 flooding.
Nigeria has experienced its fair share of flooding over the years and its attendant consequences. In 2012, Nigeria witnessed what has been described as the most devastating flood in its history.
Since then, the Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency has been making public the flood outlook for each year.
It is expected that relevant government agencies and policy makers would be well prepared to respond adequately to the incidence of flood in their area following the release of the outlook.
