Two persons were reportedly swept away as floodwaters submerged the popular Trademore Estate in Lugbe, Federal Capital Territory after an heavy downpour on Sunday evening.
The flood took over the estate located on Airport Road in Abuja after a heavy downpour on Sunday evening and early Monday morning, which lasted for some hours, rendering thousands of people homeless and properties destroyed.
In a video circulated on Monday morning by an unidentified woman whose voice was heard, the estate was seen almost completely submerged by the flood, while some properties were seen outside homes inside the rain.
“This is Trademore Estate, federal government we are pleading, two persons just died now, the water took them away. Two persons swept away now by this water, please we are begging. FCT minister, come and do something. We are appealing.
“See the police station is gone. These are people’s residences, and water is everywhere. Minister of FCT, Honourable Wike, please come to Trademore Estate, people are dying. Two people just died this morning, what a pity,” she said in the video.
It would be recalled that the flooding in the estate has been a perennial occurrence every rainy season, which made the FCT Administration promise to tackle it, but nothing has been done.
The FCDA had announced last year that it would demolish structures on waterways in the estate and other estates across the FCT, but residents of the affected areas vehemently opposed it.
In a statement signed by the FCDA executive director, Shehu Ahmed, he said the structures in communities such as Trademore Estate, disrupting the natural water flow, were responsible for flooding recorded in some parts of the city, despite the Administration marking many buildings in the estate, the occupants refused to vacate.
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The planned demolition was a result of the continuous flood that has reportedly claimed the lives of some residents and destroying several houses, vehicles, shops, and other properties were damaged in the estate.
The residents during a protest said that many of them were still paying mortgage on their houses, which was why they were kicking against plans by the FCT authorities to demolish structures in the estate.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, on Sunday predicted thundery and rainy weather conditions from Sunday to Tuesday across the country.
NiMet weather outlook released at the weekend in Abuja forecasted morning thunderstorms over the North-Central states in places like; Plateau, Nasarawa, FCT, Benue and Niger, during the morning hours. Also, later in the day, there would be prospects of thunderstorms over parts of; Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory.
However, the FCT Emergency Management Department, FEMD, on Monday morning, said it has placed its vanguards and the local emergency management committees in the six area councils on alert following early warnings of possible flooding in the Territory.
A statement by the head of the Public Affairs, FCT Emergency Department, Nkechi Isa, added that the FCT may not experience flooding.
In a reaction to the early warning on neighboring States, the Acting Director General of FEMD, Florence Dawon Wenegieme, said the Department has put in place mitigative measures around the capital city.
Wenegieme informed that the Search and Rescue Team were on alert, while local divers have been posted to vulnerable locations, and that LEMC in the six area councils and Vanguards have also been informed.
The acting director-general appealed to residents to always use the 112 emergency toll-free number in the event of any emergency.
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