The Kwara State Fire Service said on Saturday that it recovered two bodies from a river at Akerebiata area, in Ilorin, the state capital.
The two corpses, according to a statement signed by the agency’s Head of Media and Publicity, Hassan Adekunle, were recovered from a river opposite Olusola Saraki Abattoir along Sobi Army Barracks Road, Ilorin.
Adekunle said that findings by the Fire Service revealed that the car carrying the victims fell into the river while the driver was struggling to navigate through the flood, adding that it suddenly got stuck while the flood pushed the car and its occupants into the river.
“Today, October 1, 2022, the Kwara State Fire Service has removed two human bodies and a Toyota Yaris car with registration number, APP544E, from a river at opposite Olusola Saraki Abattoir, along Sobi Road in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State.
Similarly, the woes of residents affected by the flood ravaging different parts of Kogi State have worsened with the scarcity of potable water.
Our correspondent who went round Lokoja metropolis, which is the worst hit, on Saturday gathered that the scarcity was caused by the flood which affected the state waterworks where water is processed and pumped for public consumption.
At Gadumo New Layout, one of the areas close to River Niger with many of its residents affected by the flood, the pumps were seen dry, a situation some of the residents said had remained the same since last Sunday.
An official of the state Ministry of Water Resources, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said, “We can only treat and pump water for public consumption when the flood leaves this area.”
Speaking with our correspondent, a resident in Gadumo, Muhammed Aliu, described the 2022 flood as more devastating, compared to that of 2012.
“In 2012, I was one of those who accommodated some victims in my house as the flood did not reach my house in Gadumo. Ironically, this year, I became one of the victims. The flood forced me and my family to relocate to a friend’s home somewhere at Ibaji quarters in Lokoja,” Aliu said.
Meanwhile, Governor Yahaya Bello has called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to declare Kogi a state of national disaster, following the ravaging effect of flood in the state and environs.
Bello made the appeal in his Independence Day address on Saturday in Lokoja, stressing that a lasting solution must be proffered to the yearly menace.
“The President may wish to recall that he made such a declaration in response to the 2018 flooding – and the floods this year are projected to be much worse than anything we saw in 2018,” the governor said.
He added that the natural disaster had affected the nine local government areas of the state – Lokoja, Kogi-Koto, Ajaokuta, Ofu, Igalamela-Odolu, Bassa, Idah, Ibaji and Omala – which were along River Niger and River Benue.
He also noted that Ibaji was almost 100 per cent underwater, while the rest ranged from 30 per cent up and other inland areas also had some degree of flooding from smaller rivers and tributaries.
While acknowledging that the state had a humanitarian tragedy to attend to, the governor, however, assured the affected residents that help would come their way.
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