Posted by By Osaro Okhomina on
EIGHT houses were yesterday submerged and two kids feared drowned by the flood caused by heavy downpour in the Edo State capital, fuelling anger and protest by youths on the poor state of drainage system along the Uselu-Lagos road area of the state.
BENIN CITY - EIGHT houses were yesterday submerged and two kids feared drowned by the flood caused by heavy downpour in the Edo State capital, fuelling anger and protest by youths on the poor state of drainage system along the Uselu-Lagos road area of the state.
The state government however reacted yesterday to the deplorable state of the drainage systems along the Uselu-Ugbowo end of the road and agreed to embark on the distillation of the drainage and secure re-imbursement from the federal government.
Vanguard gathered that the heavy rainfall which started weekend continued unabated till the early hours of yesterday morning and caused the Ugbowo-Adolor end of the town to be heavily flooded.
It was gathered that as early as 4.30am yesterday, residents in the most affected areas, particularly those in the Adolor-College road end, started retrieving from the wreckage, their belongings and seeking other safe place for them. But the two kids, Vanguard was told, were left sleeping on a high bed by their parents who were busy ensuring their belongings were not washed away by the flood.
The bereaved parents, according to an eyewitness, after successfully salvaging their property, later went to retrieve the sleeping kids but were shocked to see their lifeless bodies floating inside the apartment.
A correspondent with the Tide Newspapers resident in the area, Mr Ben Ogbemudia told Vanguard that "we all woke up this morning to hear noise coming from some houses close to the residence of the former INEC boss and on getting there, through the flood, we saw two lifeless bodies of kids with ages ranging between two years and three.
"People tried to rush them to the hospital but it was confirmed by a student doctor in the area that they were dead. On my way to work, I was nearly drowned as the water rose to my waist level, we are suffering in that area from bad drainage system."
Meanwhile, the Edo State Executive Council (SEC) yesterday rose from its weekly meeting at the Government House in Benin City and announced that they would embark on urgent remedial action of rehabilitating bad drainages along the Benin-Uselu-Ugbowo road to alleviate the suffering of the people.
According to the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Kingsley Osadolor, "the way we want to go about it will make the road more accesible."