Flood kills 60-year-old man in Osun

TORRENTIAL rain, which has lasted more than two days in Osun on Tuesday claimed its first victim as a 60-year-old man lost his life after being trapped by flood.

The victim, simply identified as Elder Olabode, was said to have been trapped in his car by flood on his way back home on Tuesday evening, but his lifeless body was recovered on Wednesday at the bank of River Okooko in Oke Oniti area of Osogbo.

Sources informed Tribune Online that some Hausa men, who were contracted by his family were able to retrieve his body after an intense search, which lasted several hours, just as his corpse was deposited at the morgue of Osun State General Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo.

According to eyewitnesses, the 60-year-old Olabode was returning home in his car when he ran into flood and was advised to go back, but he refused.

One of the eyewitnesses, Mr Thomas Onaolapo, said “we all warned him to go back but he didn’t listen. After moving for few minutes, the intensity of the flood forced open the booth of his car and the flood trapped him.”

“Two people standing nearby made attempt to rescue him and one of them nearly got drowned in the process and we all became powerless. So there was nothing we could do again to save him,” he remarked.

However, during a condolence visit to the family of Olabode, the state commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Ayodele Philips, implored  residents to avoid flood prone areas, with a view to avoid being trapped.

Our correspondent, who monitored the effect of the flood, observed that areas terribly affected by the ravaging flood in Osogbo include Testing Ground, Fiwasaye and Rasco, where roads were impassable.

Many residents of the affected areas have vacated their residences, while goods and properties estimated at millions of naira were destroyed by flood.