Torrential rain that started on Tuesday and ceased in the early hours of Wednesday left some communities in Ekiti State, including Ado Ekiti and the neighbouring Ikere Ekiti, flooded.
In Ado Ekiti, residents of areas such as Ureje along the Polytechnic Road and adjoining communities like Boom Town, Eminrin and Ijelu, where the rain wreaked havoc, have been counting their losses since Wednesday.
Residents said the flood covered the bridge on the Ado-Ijan-Ikare Road, which links the state capital with the Federal Polytechnic area, and forced stranded commuters to take refuge in nearby filling stations.
The Chairman, Boom Town Residents Association, Mr Yemi Oladimeji, appealed to the government to dredge the stream to prevent a recurrence of the flooding, saying, “This Ureje stream was dredged about three years ago, but the job was not done well and the effect is what we are witnessing today.
“About four houses could have been destroyed but for communal efforts to ensure that we make the inner Ureje Bridge that links us with Oke Ila with concrete. There is a need for the government to do a thorough job of dredging the stream in order to reduce the water level.”
Residents of Oke Osun, Odo Oja and Ise Road areas of Ikere Ekiti were also affected as the flood submerged some houses and cars.
Sources said occupants of the affected houses were trapped inside for hours, while other residents had difficulties accessing their houses.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Olugbenga Agbeyo, said he was notified of the development in Ikere Ekiti by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, adding that he had contacted the relevant authorities to do the needful.
His counterpart in the Information Ministry, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, said at a forum in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, “It has been raining for many hours. There is flood everywhere, including in Ikere Ekiti, my hometown.
“I was awake all night calling the attention of the National Emergency Management Agency and the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency to the problem so that they could intervene.”