Posted by Storm sweeps across two villages leaving on its trail sorrow and tears on
People of Kyarang and Dewang villages in Barakin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State were taken aback recently when a whirlwind left in its trail sorrow and tears. More than 60 houses were destroyed by the wind and 200 villagers rendered homeless.
Indeed, Kyarang, a Fulani settlement, had more than it bargained for that day. Apart from the houses destroyed, scores of people sustained injuries.
When the cloud turned dark that day, nobody had inkling that disaster was lurking around. The villagers had looked forward to rain. However, instead of getting rain, they got a strong wind. Wherever the wind passed, it left destruction. Roofs of houses were blown away. Trees and crops in the farm were forcefully uprooted by the wind. Mud houses were equally knocked down.
The head of the Fulani settlement, 71-year-old Alhaji Hassan Usman, said that after he called the villagers to the routine afternoon prayer that fateful day, he went into his room and laid down waiting for the faithful to gather for prayer. No sooner than he laid down than his grandchild rushed into the room and told him that a mysterious thing was happening outside.
Usman said that when he came outside, he saw roofing sheets flying from houses that had been hit by the strong wind. He said that the villagers started running for safety.
By the time the wind passed the village, about 20 mud houses had been destroyed. Mighty trees were uprooted. Animals were carried and hit against trees and houses causing their death.
At Dewang, a nearby village, the head, Nagani S. B. Maishingi, told Daily Sun that he was outside the house at about 3 o'clock when he noticed the whirlwind approaching the village. According to him, as the wind rolled towards the village, it destroyed everything on its route. By the time it had swept across the village, about 42 mud houses had been destroyed and 247 people rendered homeless. Seven persons were injured and rushed to the hospital. Among the houses destroyed was a church.
Pastor Nuhu Dangata of the Assemblies of God Church, a victim of the wind, told Daily Sun that in addition to the destruction of the church building, all the animals and fowls he had were killed. He said that all his electronics gadgets were destroyed.
Before the strong wind hit his household, according to him, he had about 36 chickens, lamenting that all died.
Incidentally, since the disaster, life in the village has been hell. Villagers, whose houses were destroyed, sleep outside, in the open, at the mercy of the elements.
Governor Jonah Jang had promised to release N11 million to the residents through National Emergency Management Relief Agency (NEMA).