Lamentation as rainstorm destroys palace, 29 other houses in Osun community

No fewer than thirty houses, including the palace of the Olowu of Kuta, Oba Adekunle Makama Oyelude, were destroyed by rainstorm in Kuta, Ayedire Local Government Area, Osun State, penultimate Thursday after a heavy downpour that lasted more than two hours. The roofs of some of the houses were blown off, while the walls of a few of them collapsed.

Although no life was lost in the incident, property worth millions of naira were destroyed. Severely affected was the palace of Olowu, the traditional ruler of the community. The walls of a section of the palace crumbled, crushing a white Mercedez Benz belonging to the monarch in the process.

At the time the incident occurred, Oba Oyelude was in Abuja. And as it would be expected, he has been receiving guests on sympathy visits to the ancient town.

The Oluwo of Iwoland and paramount ruler of the area, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, who was also at the palace on sympathy visit, called for government’s support for the victims of the rainstorm.

Praying that such an incident would not occur again, the monarch advocated the planting of trees, which he said serves as wind breakers during storms. He said the process to make appropriate emergency agencies of government turn attention to Kuta must begin immediately to bring succour to victims.

Read also: Rainstorm wrecks havoc in Omu-Aran, Kwara

Oba Oyelude described the havoc caused by the rainstorm as unfortunate. He also called on the Osun State government to come to the rescue of his subjects affected by the ugly incident.

The monarch, who conducted the Oluwo round his palace and round the town to assess the extent of damage caused by the rain storm, said: “I was not at the palace when the disaster occurred. I was in Abuja for a programme. It is quite unfortunate that properties worth millions of naira were lost.

The Senator representing Osun West Senatorial District, Engr. Adelere Oriolowo, also sympathised with the Olowu and the people of Kuta community, saying that he had reached out to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to advocate support for the victims.

He said: “I was very sad when I received the news of the incident, considering the number of victims affected and property destroyed. Honestly, I commiserate with Oba Adekunle Makama Oyelude and the entire people of Kuta.

“I have spoken with the leadership of the National Emergency Management Agency to assist the victims. We cannot afford to abandon them at this critical point of their needs.”

One of the victims, Tijani Bello, who spoke on behalf of the others,  thanked everyone who had paid a condolence visit to the community, saying that they initially thought it was the conventional kind of rainfall when it all started around 5.30 pm on the fateful day, but it all ended on a sad note.

He also called on the state and federal governments to come to their aid, saying they could not afford the repairs of their destroyed homes because of their poor economic conditions.