Five children may have died in communities around old Yola town in Yola South LGA and Jimeta, in Yola North LGA of Adamawa State after a heavy rain caused flooding that ravaged houses and places of business, mostly around Jimeta.

The Executive Secretary of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), Dr Muhammed Suleiman, said he was yet to conclude assessment of the damage by the flood when our correspondent called him on Friday afternoon.

But he did say after much prodding that between four and five children might have drowned or swept away in Jambutu and Wurojabe in Yola North LGA, and in Yolde Pate in Yola South LGA.

“I wish you can just wait till my team returns from the assessment tour they have embarked on, because I can’t be specific now,” he said, and promised to speak later in the day after he would have been properly briefed.

The Yola North Transition Committee Chairman, Adamu Wakili, who addressed journalists in his office after an assessment visit to affected communities in the LGA, described the rain and the flood as unprecedented.

He said: “We have never experienced this one to two hours of intensive rain and heavy flooding before. Many were rendered homeless. We have just seen a tailor shop where three sewing machines were swept away.”

He put the number of the dead at three, which occurred, according to him, at Jambutu and Wurojabe.

Many families and business owners were displaced following the rain which caused gutters to overflow into homes and business places mostly in Jimeta area of the Adamawa State capital.

The rain had poured heavily on Thursday evening, flooding households in much of Jimeta and Yola town, with most streets in Jambutu, Bachure, Wurojabe, Kofare, and some other communities becoming rivers of rain swept water and causing massive traffic holdup.

The Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) cut off power supply on Thursday due to damage done to some of its power stations by the rain and flood, and many parts of the town were yet to have power back by Friday afternoon. (The Nation)

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