Flood wreaks havoc in Abuja, submerges 116 buildings

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Flood wreaks havoc in Abuja, submerges 116 buildings

Following a downpour in the Federal Capital Territory on Friday, no fewer than 116 buildings have been submerged by flood in the affected areas.

Residents of Trademore Estate along the Lugbe-Airport axis lamented their losses as the floods left a trail of destruction in its wake.

What began as light showers around 8am turned into a relentless downpour, catching residents off guard.

The sudden deluge of water overwhelmed the drainage systems, which were ill-equipped to handle such a volume of water, leading to a rapid rise in floodwaters that engulfed the entrance of the estate.

One of the victims, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said he narrowly escaped being carried away by the waves, adding that his car and a batch of bread meant for delivery that morning, could not be salvaged.

“Thank God I can swim. I nearly drowned. There was also someone in front of me who was struggling but I do not know what happened to him. It was after I got to that point that people were able to help me,” he added.

Some residents, however, blamed the government for the perennial flooding in the area.

A resident, Segun Akin, said, “I am a major stakeholder here. I have been here for 10 to 11 years. The volume of water that came into Trademore five years ago is not the same volume that is coming into Trademore this year. We tried to talk to the government about looking at the volume of water that comes into Trademore from the Galadimawa axis. My house is just at the back of the canal. I have never seen such a volume of water before coming into Trademore. As long as that water from the Galadimawa axis is not controlled, there is no way it can be contained here.’’

Responding to the allegation, the Director General of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Dr Abass Idriss, said the government should instead be blamed for not clearing and demolishing the estate earlier, adding that the entire estate sat on a waterway.

Meanwhile, FEMA, in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs, Nkechi Isa, said no life was lost to the flood.

Isa, however, said a total of 116 houses were submerged.

The statement also dismissed reports on social media that a resident on the estate went missing in the floods.