Worst hit is the popular foodstuffs market on the Benin-Agbor-Asaba highway where destroyed sacks of garri were emptied by the roadside by their owners.
Also, economic trees and electricity poles were uprooted as residents of the community counted their losses running into several millions of naira.
Spokesman of the community, Mr Monday Obiazi, told newsmen at the scene of the disaster at the weekend, that there was no loss of life, adding that a woman was admitted in the hospital following the severe injuries she sustained.
According to him: “Suddenly, the storm came, turning everything upside down. There was confusion as people ran for safety. Objects, including roofs, were flying in the air. Plantain, palm, pear trees,went down as women who had just returned from the market with garri were caught unawares. They had to run for dear lives abandoning their goods. The last time we had this terrible experience was in 1984.”
Like 90-year-old Christopher Onyeocha, who could not hold back his tears, many women, including Mrs Esther Onyeje, Loveth Chukwudumebi, Grace Ijeh and Patience Igbinovia, bemoaned the fate that befell them, even as they called on government and public-spirited individuals to come to their aid.
A prominent son of the community, Mr Kingsley Obiaze, noted with dismay the marginalisation of the community since 1999, saying: “To the government of the state, we are nobody.”
He said both the state emergency management agency and that of the Federal Government should make haste and do the needful to ensure displaced persons are sheltered.
and then