Flood kills 15 in Nasarawa

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Death toll in the flooding that ravaged the Mararaba, Gurku, Kabayi and Ado communities in the Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Monday had risen to 15 while scores were still missing.

A leader of one of the communities who spoke under condition of anonymity to our correspondent that no fewer than 15 persons were killed during the flooding which followed a down pour that lasted for eight hours on Monday.

Also no fewer than 36 houses were swept away in the incident while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.

The flooding came barely two weeks after the National Emergency Management Agency issued a warning alert over imminent flood disaster in some states including Nasarawa.

Relatives of victims in the affected communities as of the time of filling in this report were still searching for their loved ones that had been declared missing.

But, the interim Committee Management Chairman of Karu local Government of Nasarawa State, Mr. Yin-Allah Vundabo, said only seven persons were killed in the flood but confirmed that 36 houses were washed away.

He said: “The number of casualties we have at hand is seven while about 36 houses were washed away. We are still taking inventory of the property destroyed and the number of persons missing.”

Asked whether or not the state government had come to the aid of the communities Vundabo stated that they (the communities) had yet to get any assistance and that the state governor had not visited the area.

He explained that the state government was informed through the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency.

Speaking on the development in a telephone interview, the Secretary of the NSEMA, Dr. Abdullahi Idris, said the flooding occurred on Monday after a torrential rain and blamed the affected communities for not reporting the incident to government and resorting to self help.

Idris said, “We expect that people should report to us when such things happened. We have a local Emergency Management Committee and we expect the communities to report first to them for onward report to us.”

When our correspondent visited the affected areas on Thursday many of the residents were sighted mourning over the loss of lives and property in the incident.

Local government officials, vigilance groups and other volunteers were also seen conducting search and rescue exercise in the absence of officials of both the NEMA and the state emergency management agency.