The torrential rainfall of almost eight hours on Monday evening claimed the life of a final year student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Akoko Southwest local government.
Sources said the deceased simply called ‘Doyin’, an Indigene of Ekiti state, was washed away to an unknown destination by heavy flood from a canal very close to her residence in the town.
Her landlord, Elemukona Ademola, who narrowly escaped the raging flood, said: “I had to climb cocoa tree when many people thought I had been carried away by the flood.’’
The landlord said he had made many efforts to curtail the erosion from the canal before.
At the scene of the incident, the Ondo State Commissioner for Agriculture and indigene of the town, Otunba Gboyega Adefarati paid a sympathy visit.
He warned his kinsmen from building houses very close to the canal.
Adefarati equally cautioned those who are in the habit of blocking the drainages with refuse to desist from such act as this practice always lead to flooding.
The monarch of the town, Alale of Akungba, Oba Sunday Adeyeye Ajimo and another community leader the Seriki Muslimi of Akungba, Chief Seriki Awesu urged National Emergency Maintainance Agency (NEMA), Ondo state government, the federal government and multinational organizations to come to the aids of victims in Akungba Akoko.
According to them, properties worth millions were destroyed in the community while roads, bridges and hotels with vehicles were badly damaged.
They appealed to their people to adhere strictly to town planning instruction and NEMA warning that those living very close to canals and rivers to quit during rainfall.
Already, the University Authorities have suspended lectures and tests earlier scheduled for Tuesday over the incident.
A statement signed by the Institution’s Acting Registrar, Opeolu Akinfemiwa, however, said all students should resume on Wednesday.
According to him: “The University is leaving no stone unturned in the quest to find the missing student.
“Divers and other volunteers have been sought to search the path of the river in a bid to find the missing undergraduate.”
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Akungba Shakiru Ajibola, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Shakuru Ajibola, confirmed the incident and said three persons including a landlord of the house where the girl was carried away by the flood were rescued.
He noted that divers were still looking for the undergraduate in the neighbouring rivers.
Already, many roads in Akokoland had become impassable as serious erosion had affected them especially Jubilee road, Hospital junction, Bankole road Ilepa Ikare, Okoja Awara road, Irun to Ojeka, Irun to Surulere to Oluta and Okeagbe to Afin to Eshe.
Two farmers, Bayo Boluwade and Alhaji Adebola Sarumi, appealed to government to shift emphasis from urban roads to rural roads in the state to improve their economy.
