Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, on Wednesday evening, said his administration was shocked and surprised following destruction caused by flood in the state.
He lamented that despite heavy investment of the state government in dredging waterways annually, it was unfortunate that the recent flood caused so much damage within Osogbo, the state capital.
Aregbesola, who sympathised with victims of the flood, caused by heavy downpour, which lasted for more than three days, warned residents against dumping of refuse in water channels.
In a statement on Thursday, signed by his Director, Bureau of Communication, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, after his tour of the affected areas, which included Okeonitea, Rasco, Fiwasaye and Gbomi, the governor said the flood took the state by surprise judging by the heavy investments of his administration on flood prevention since 2011.
According to Aregbesola, “Our government deeply regret the flooding that has affected our people. Since 2011, the government had been embarking on massive dredging of waterways in all parts of the state in order to stave off such disasters.
“I have moved round to commiserate with the victims whose property were affected by this disaster. We have been quite committed to ensuring absence of this calamity since the advent of our administration as we have been regularly dredging the waterways and as a matter of fact, we are still very much indebted to those who normally work with us to ensure cleaning of our waterways,” he remarked.