THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said three young siblings and four adults died as a result of the recent flooding that occurred after two days of continuous rainfall in Lagos.
The agency’s coordinator for South West, Ibrahim Farinloye, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
Giving a post-emergency phase assessment after the rainfall of July 8 and July 9, Farinloye said eight people were were also saved within the period.
“The post-emergency phase assessment after the unprecedented rainfall has revealed that about that seven people – three children of the same parent and four adults – died as a result of the flooding that was witnessed during the two days continuous rainfall.
“About eight lives were also saved during the period, as a result of the flooding that was witnessed during the two-day continuous rainfall.”
According to him, the three siblings who lost their lives were residing in a church building belonging to Mercy of Christ Apostolic Church.
The victims – Michael, 18; Elizabeth, 17 and Timi, 14 – were swept away while trying to relocate from their room to the main church structure.
It was gathered that the youngest child, Timi, who was said to be asthmatic, while trying to climb the plank linking their room to the church building, slipped and was overpowered by the flood.
The NEMA official explained that while the remaining two were trying to rescue their sibling, they were also swept away by the flood.
Farinloye said the NEMA team, while on a condolence visit to the families, met with representatives of the Progressive Community Development Area, who conducted the agency around the affected communities.
He added, “The bereaved parents were said to be somewhere, but the NEMA team had a brief meeting with the community leaders on the way forward.
“An appeal was made to them that for the rest of the year, the community must embark on awareness and sensitisation on safe actions, to avoid the situation that they experienced during the period,” he added.
The community leaders also informed NEMA that four siblings who were also swept away on the same day were rescued.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.