Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Residents of the popular Redeemed junction along Okpanam Road, Asaba, Delta State were shocked on Friday morning to discover the body of a 10-year girl who was swept away by rampaging flood during torrential rains the previous day.
The victim was seized by the devastating flood at Okpanam town and dragged in the drainage on the dualised Okpanam-Asaba road before depositing the body at the Redeemed Junction. Sympathisers wailed at the gory sight.
Besides the 10-year girl, the flood also swept away a middle-aged man who fell into the flood waters during the downpour.
The male victim, simply identified as Hassan, fell into the ditch-filled running water at Akpu junction, opposite the Legislative Quarters along Okpanam road.
He was said to have died shortly after he was rescued.
Meanwhile, residents of the city and its environs are now counting their losses following the downpour that resulted in the heavy flooding which destroyed properties and rendered several people homeless.
While relatives of the victims were mourning their losses, other residents were busy bailing flood water from their apartments, even as they made frantic efforts to salvage what was left of their property.
Even the state establishments including the Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS) were submerged in the rampaging flood which sacked the workers from their offices on Thursday.
A staff of the broadcasting outfit who spoke on the condition of anonymity, lamented that their offices were taken over by the blood, adding that most of the equipment of the broadcasting station were destroyed by the flood.
While calling on the state government to expedite action on the drainage project, the staff decried that the flooding was hindering their jobs and efficiency of the station.
Part of the drainage project at the DBS Junction, which savaged the situation caved in due to pressure from the flood water.
At Ibusa, a neighbouring town in Oshimili North Local Government Area, the flood also rendered some residents of Umueze quarters homeless.
A resident, Ogechukwu Okonkwor, lamented that the flood was as a result of a poor drainage system in the area, saying that the situation was causing the people so much pain.
Okonkwo predicted that more people would be rendered homeless if something was not urgently done to remedy the situation.