Two escape death as rainstorm wreaks havoc in Kwara
On Thursday evening along Unity Road in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state, two passengers in a moving car narrowly avoided death when a political signpost toppled on their vehicle following excessive rain.
Strong windstorms and intermittent rainstorms caused devastation in the city, destroying stores, power poles, buildings, cars, and other structures. Political directional markers were included.
Residents of the Ilorin metropolis’ Taiwo, Unity, and Itamodu neighbourhoods were reportedly left calculating their losses after the rainstorm destroyed properties worth several million nairas.
The excessive rain also caused several signposts to collapse, blocking the main road in the metropolis’ Sawmill, Taiwo, and Unity neighbourhoods.
The PUNCH correspondent learned that in several areas of Kwara state, including the state’s Oke-Ero Local Government Area, the rain that was accompanied by a violent windstorm also significantly damaged houses.
However, the Kwara state Fire Service claimed that no one was killed in the event and added that the two people inside the car that a signpost hit on Unity Road were able to flee.
Hassan Adekunle, the state Fire Service’s head of media and publicity, claimed that numerous homes in the Taiwo Isale, Unity Road, and Ita Amodu neighbourhoods among others were severely destroyed by the rainstorm.
He said, “what would have been the worst was the fallen political signposts which fell on a car at Unity Road adding that the occupants of the car had gone down before men of the fire service came to their rescue.”
Adekunle claimed that Prince John Famuyiwa, the state fire service’s director, had encouraged residents to always stay indoors whenever they saw the rain coming down.
For the safety of their lives, Famiyiwa also advised car owners and drivers to stay off the roads anytime it was raining or threatened to rain.
The Director General of Kwara State Signage and Advertisement, KWASAA, Mr Olorunshola Omotayo, also commented on the incident. He said that efforts are being made to remove the falling signposts from the road to allow free flow of traffic and that the damage would also be assessed.
The governor of Kwara state, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, had expressed sympathy to the state’s citizens over the storm and flooding occurrences
Ilorin residents and several other villages in the state who were impacted by the rainstorm and floods of Thursday night received sympathy from Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, according to a statement signed by Rafiu Ajakaye, the chief press secretary to the governor, on Friday
“The governor described the incidents as unfortunate. He is sad about the havoc that the rainstorm wreaked on public and private properties, especially in the Ilorin metropolis, Oke Ero, and some other areas,” according to a government statement on Friday.
“The governor is aware of and commends the ongoing efforts of relevant government agencies to evacuate the many fallen signposts and clear the highways for free movement of traffic.
“While the state government will collaborate with the federal government to continually tackle the question of flooding, the government appeals to members of the public to avoid littering the drainages or blocking the free flow of water”, the statement said.
