How flood killed three-year-old, destroyed 100 houses in Gombe

A three-year-old child died while his two-year-old sibling was critically injured following an early morning downpour that wreaked havoc in Bajoga town of Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State.

The incident followed a heavy downpour that rained for over five hours, resulting in heavy flooding that led to the collapse of one of the walls of the room where the two children were sleeping in ‘Unguwar Fada,’ near the Emir’s Palace.

The remains of the deceased have since been buried following Islamic rites, while his critically injured younger brother was rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH), Gombe for treatment

It was learnt that several others that sustained various degrees of injuries were receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Bajoga and other medical facilities.

A resident of Bajoga, Yahaya Haruna, who spoke to Daily Trust newspaper explained that the rainfall started at around 5:30am and lasted until about 11am on Sunday, during which several people got injured while over 100 houses, many livestock and property worth millions of naira were also destroyed, mostly in Shara-Mansur and Bodoriyel areas of the town.

At the time of filing this report, Head of Rescue of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Muhammad Garba, said they were still in Bajoga “accessing the situation to ascertain the casualty figures and the actual number of houses, livestock and property destroyed by the flood.”

However, The Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has sympathised with the family of the deceased and all those who sustained injuries or lost their property.

In a statement by his spokesman, Ismaila Uba Misilli, the governor directed the state’s Ministry of Environment, SEMA and the local authorities to assess the level of devastation in the affected areas, as well as provide succour to the victims.

He assured of his administration’s commitment to assist the affected families and urged people of the state to heed flash flood warnings, “and avoid flood-prone areas as a preventive measure.”