A 14-year-old secondary school student has been killed while an unknown number of people were reportedly swept away in a downpour that hit major parts of Sagamu in the Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Our correspondent gathered that the flooding occurred on Tuesday and affected communities such as Ajaka, express Junction, Ogunyanwo, Olayinka, and the Isale-Ojumele area of Sagamu.
The victim who was said to be a student of Agbele Community High School due to the uniform he reportedly had on, got dragged away and drowned in the flood.
Eyewitnesses said that the deceased fell off a bike which was being dragged away by the erosion.
Our correspondent further gathered that properties running to millions of naira were lost to the incident while some residents sustained injuries.
Further findings showed that many properties were destroyed in the Makun area of the council.
Residents of the area lamented that valuable goods and properties are always lost anytime it rains due to the small drainage system in the area.
They said the community can’t withstand the impacts of the erosion which is usually highly enormous.
They said some motorcycles were swept away by the torrent, while many valuable goods and properties were also lost due to the heavy downpour.
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Also, some people who were swept away by the flooding were said to have sustained different degrees of injuries.
A resident of the area, Banjo Adeoye, said, “We had something like this last year and it was more terrible, we cried out to the government but no help. We don’t have a good drainage system on this axis.
“The water has nowhere to pass but to start flooding our houses. We thought the information from last year will help them plan well for this year but here we are today, a boy lost his life, and we don’t know how many okada or property we will have to look for.”
The residents of the area, however, berated the state government. They said did nothing to provide succor for the affected communities and individuals.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, on Wednesday, confirmed the incident when he paid on the spot assessment to the affected areas.
Oresanya said that the redesign of the state drainage master plan of the state has become imperative.
He however called on the Federal Government for assistance.
He said, “The government would begin implementation of some of the short medium, and long-term solutions which include dredging of canals and desilting of blocked drainages.
“We call on the federal government for assistance to ameliorate the perennial challenges.”
