An early morning downpour that caused havoc in Bajoga town of Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State resulted in the death of a three-year-old child and critical injuries to his two-year-old sibling.
The two kids were sleeping in a room in “Unguwar Fada” near the Emir’s Palace when heavy flooding from the weekend’s rain that lasted for more than five hours caused one of the walls to collapse.
The deceased’s remains have since been laid to rest in accordance with Islamic customs, while his injured younger brother was rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH), Gombe, for medical attention.
According to the Daily Trust, numerous other people who suffered various degrees of injuries were being treated at the General Hospital, Bajoga, and other hospitals.
A resident of Bajoga, Yahaya Haruna, told Daily Trust that the rainfall started at around 5:30am and lasted until about 11am, during which several people got injured while over 100 houses, many livestock and property worth millions of naira were also destroyed, mostly in Shara-Mansur and Bodoriyel areas of the town.
At the time of filing this report, Head of Rescue of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Muhammad Garba, said they were still in Bajoga “Accessing the situation to ascertain the casualty figures and the actual number of houses, livestock and property destroyed by the flood.”
Meanwhile, Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has sympathised with the family of the deceased and all those who sustained injuries or lost their property.
In a statement by his spokesman, Ismaila Uba Misilli, the governor directed the state’s Ministry of Environment, SEMA and the local authorities to assess the level of devastation in the affected areas, as well as provide succour to the victims.
He assured of his administration’s commitment to assist the affected families and urged people of the state to heed flash flood warnings, “and avoid flood-prone areas as a preventive measure.”