A heavy rain that fell on Saturday has forced hundreds of people to flee from their homes even as traders in Shasha Market, Oke Baale, Osogbo counted losses owning to the destruction it caused.
A visit by Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) onlinenews to the area revealed that although no live was lost but many houses, shops and kiosks were subsumed in water while several thousands of Naira worth of heaps of cassavas, bags of garri and beans were washed away
Speaking with OSBC news, a husband of one of those affected by the flood, Mr. Taofeek Amodu said he rushed to the area on the call of his wife to move some goods out of her shop before the place was flooded. He recounted losses suffered by many marketers who were caught unaware and scampered for safety of their lives as the flood surged
Also speaking, one of the traders affected by the flood Alhaji Isiaka Ojolowo said he and other traders were caught unaware after two hours the rain started and quickly rushed out of their shops. He said they were only able to take a few items away from the shop before the flood took over
He said “It has been been an annual ritual for this to happen to us but we didn’t expect it so early,” he began
“The similar scenario happened during the late heavy rain around September-October last year when akintokun river in Igbo-Ifa overflowed its bank, causing huge havoc to traders in the area. I was one of those badly affected as some of my rams were flushed away. In fact, a big cow was lost after efforts to prevent the flood from taking it away failed. It was a sad experience.”
When asked about efforts made to inform the government, Alhaji Ojolowo said “the damages caused here annually are always heartbreaking and I think it is high time the government did something to the area. We reported this to the past government but nothing was done even after several visits.
“The solution is that there should be a bridge to channel the stream to the one in Igbo-Ifa but the past administration only put cemented rings there, which is too narrow for the river to navigate during rainy season.
“We therefore called on Governor Ademola Adeleke to help us construct a bridge to expand the channels where the river can easily flow. It’s just two months into the rainy season and we’re experiencing this. We don’t know what will happen towards the end of the year but we believe our amiable Governor Adeleke can come to our rescue,” submitted Alhaji Ojolowo.