SEVERAL days after the flood incident that sacked several communities and killed no fewer than 19 people in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State last weekend, floods of tears, anguish and pains have continued flowing from the eyes of many residents especially the bereaved families.
The ugly incident remained the major subject of discussion among the people all through the week as the embattled residents were yet come to terms with the disaster which they described as unprecedented in the history of the area.
From one part of the area to another, worried residents gathered in small groups discussing the incident in low voices with palpable fears written all over their faces.
The flood which started on Saturday night, according to the residents, did not stop until around 9:30 a.m on Sunday. Aside from the dead victims, properties worth several millions of Naira were also reportedly destroyed by the flood.
Checks showed that there was hardly any community in the area that was not ravaged.
However, the worst-hit areas included Kaduna road through Bakin-Iku, Chanchania and Yaro College area, Kantoma, Kuspa, Angwa Gwari, and Angwa Juma. Some buildings collapsed during the downpour, resulting in the death of some of residents while many sustained various degrees of injury. Cars and vehicles parked on the waterways were also not spared as they were moved from their original positions.
The major victim of the disaster was obviously a carpenter, Saiadu Abubakar, who lost his two wives and six children to the incident.
According to him, the flood caught him unawares and trapped all his family members. His words: “The flood led to the collapse of my house and it trapped some of my neighbours and before I could wake up to warn my family members who were fast asleep at the time, my house had already been submerged. When I realised that my 5-rooms apartment had been submerged, I started calling them to join me in getting out of the house before it was too late.
“We were trapped in the house and there was no way we could escape and run outside because it was very dark and the flood came with full force . I was with one of the children and my two wives , one of my wives has a new born baby and she held tightly to the child and the older one. She was not feeling too well because it was only a week that she put to bed.
“Thereafter, the flood became too strong for me to continue to shield my family. Before I knew it, the house had collapsed and the roof fell on us and then came the flood. While this was happening, I held one of my children in my hand but the flood swept the rest of my family members away. I did not know the direction it swept them to.”
In spite of his distressed condition and the sordid darkness that pervaded the environment, Abubakar said he defied the flood and frantically searched for his missing family members but to no avail, adding that he would have also have been killed by the flood as it carried him forcefully away from his house and he had to hold on a tree to save himself. He said that all distress calls made out to neighbours brought no help as everyone was busy trying to save members of their household.
“After the rain had subsided help eventually came. We went to the riverside at about 3am with torch but we could not find any of my family members . We beat a retreat and went for the first Muslim prayers in the morning. Thereafter, we went back and we found dead bodies of two of my family members when the day broke. They were the bodies of one of my sons and the body of his late mother. After that, we also saw additional two dead bodies of my family members, making four. But up till now we have not seen the remaining four.
” The names of my two late wives are Shueba and Hajara. While the names of the children Hikma, Musa, Yusuf, Zainab, Asmau and Nana Khadijat . The eldest of the children was a secondary school girl while three of the children were in primary school. Two of them were in pre-nursery class and the new born baby were also affected. I am a carpenter by profession while on the sideline, I also sell tea by the road side to augment my income.”
One of the neighbours of Abubakar, Jibril Mohammed, confirmed that he heard when they were calling for help but everyone was busy trying to safe their lives and before they could get to them, the rain had wiped them away.
“The rain started around 12midnight and after some hours, I heard shouts, but I didn’t pay attention. After sometime, I noticed water seeping into my house, so I had to go outside. It was dark but I heard shouts and before I knew it, I heard the sounds of buildings collapsing everywhere. In the house behind me where the man has two wives and six children, they were all shouting that we should come and help them, we tried our best but we couldn’t because the water was much. After some time, we did not hear their shouts anymore.”
Another survivor, Fatima Yahaya said that it was her neighbours who saved her. She said she was fast asleep, only for her to hear the sounds of shouting from her neighbours calling her to come out.
“I think the rain started by 12am. By 2am, I heard my neighbours knocking my door and calling me to come out because flood was sweeping houses and cars away. When I came out, I saw people swimming to safety. So we held ourselves and swam to safety. It wasn’t easy because I do not know how to swim before but with my neighbours’ help, I was saved.”
The Nation learnt about two friends who lived in the same room, were also carried away by the flood. One of them was said to have died while the other survived and taken to hospital.
When our correspondent visited him, he said: “When the flood became too much, we tried to swim to safety, but everywhere suddenly went blank. Later, I saw myself lying on the ground where I was picked and brought to the hospital.”
The Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA, Ibrahim Inga, said out of the 11 people (official figure) who died in the flood disaster, eight bodies had been recovered .
Inga said four areas in Suleja were badly affected by the flood adding that the place is currently not habitable for people.
According to him, 90 houses were destroyed with no fewer than 500 people displaced. The NSEMA boss added that there were possibility of using primary schools in the area as temporary camps for the victims.
“Niger State government is doing its best to reach out to those affected. First of all, we must provide shelter immediately and other things will follow, ” he said.
The Deputy Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Ketso, who visited the area expressed sadness over the disaster while expressing the condolences of the state government to the emirate council and the families of those who lost their loved ones.
He called on the emirate and the local government council to carryout sensitization programmes that would enlighten the public about the negative consequences of building on waterways adding that by so doing, the negative effects of unforeseen flooding would be reduced drastically.
Ketso stated that although God had destined the occurrence of the sad event, the victims were not totally innocent based on the reports he received.
The deputy governor assured the people of the readiness of the state government to provide assistance and relief materials to them.
