Sixteen people have been killed by bouts of flood following heavy downpour in some communities Bauchi, Niger State.

Cash and food crops were also washed away from farmlands in the affected communities.

Briefing journalists in Bauchi, the Deputy Director, Needs Assessment of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Musa Ladan, said that four persons lost their lives in Galamakira and Galam Baba communities in Miya district of Ganjuwa local government.

He said that eight persons also lost their lives as a result of the flood in Gulbuk community in Giade local government area of the state.

“The flood killed four children who went out in the rain to wash their bodies. Unfortunately for them on their way home, they stepped on a culvert which caved in and the flood took them away.”

“The people in the community were able to recover the body one of the children who died during the incident. The other two bodies were recovered the following day,” he said.

He said that another victim, a 65-year-old farmer, called Alhaji Danladi, whose house collapsed due to the magnitude of the windstorm accompanying the rain, also lost his life.

The Bauchi State SEMA Permanent Secretary, Aliyu Abba Ahmad, said that the SEMA team had paid a condolence visit the affected communities and access the level of damage wrecked by the flood.

On their part, the Village heads of Galamakira and Galam Baba, Saleh Adamu and Ahmed Iliyasu respectively called on the state government to construct more primary health care centres in the communities in order to offer prompt medical services to the people during emergencies.

Reports from Niger State say four people have lost their lives to flood in Lapai local government area of the state following a downpour that lasted for two days.

The flood also submerged 23 communities and overran several farmlands.

Communities affected by the flood disaster include Cheku, Lambata Kwaran, Cheppa, Alaba, Bina and Muye. Others are Ebbo, Egba, Gagbe, Tanna, Bazhi and Yelwa.

Our correspondent learnt that some communities in Shiroro, Muyan, Gurara, Bida, Lavun, Wushishi, Mokwa and Borgu local government areas were also affected by the flood.

The flood sub-merged and washed away houses, even as it destroyed public schools, places of worship, farmlands, roads and bridges in the affected communities.

Water level had risen to all-time high in Mokwa, Wushishi, Lagun, Shiroro, Munya and New Bussa local government areas which are considered to be flash points this time of the year, necessitating calls by the state government on residents to relocate to safer locations.

The state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who was on-the-spot assessment to the affected areas, called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency intervene in the ecological challenges devastating communities in the state.

The governor said the current problem was beyond the state and that he had a cause to discuss the issue with the federal government for urgent intervention in the matter. (Daily Trust)

•Photo shows flood scene.

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