Flood sweeps Delta undergraduate into canal, body found

The car of the victim's father. Photo: Efecha Gold.

A university undergraduate was swept away by floodwater in Asaba, Delta State, while travelling with her father, and her body was recovered two days later.

The incident occurred on Monday at Okotimi Layout, behind the Asaba Specialist Hospital, following a downpour.

The girl was reportedly travelling with her father in a Toyota Corolla when floodwater pushed the vehicle into a drainage channel.

A source said the man was taking his daughter to the location where she was undergoing her industrial training when the incident occurred.

“He was driving to a place where the daughter was doing her industrial attachment. As he was driving, the road was flooded, and the water was pushing the vehicle into the drain,” the source said.

The source said the girl, who was sitting in the front of the vehicle, raised her hand and called for help before she was swept away by the floodwater.

Her father was rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment.

The Delta State Emergency Management Agency, under the Ministry of Bureau for Special Duties, confirmed the incident.

The Commissioner for the Bureau of Special Duties, Ejiro Terry Etacherure, said SEMA commenced a search for the girl on Monday and engaged divers to assist in the operation.

He said the search continued until Wednesday, when boat operators at the Otogwu River axis of Anwai Road alerted the agency after discovering a floating body.

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“The State Emergency Management Agency intervened in the search for the girl. We looked for divers, and they had been searching for her since Monday until this morning when boat riders at Otogwu River in Anwai Road called SEMA,” Etacherure said.

The commissioner said a family member was contacted to identify the body, adding that an ambulance from the Asaba Specialist Hospital conveyed the remains to the hospital morgue.

Meanwhile, residents said the incident was not the first time vehicles had been swept into the drainage channel during heavy rainfall.

An eyewitness, who declined to be named, said vehicles, including a Mercedes-Benz GLK and a Lexus, had previously fallen into the canal.

“The last one that fell inside is the Corolla, which involved the death of a young girl. This is not the first incident because vehicles usually fall into the canal back to back,” the eyewitness said.

The eyewitness attributed the recurring incidents to inadequate drainage, saying the existing channel could not contain the volume and force of floodwater during heavy rainfall.

“It is the drainage because there is none good there. You cannot expect a small drainage for a flood. Things don’t work like that,” he said.

The deceased’s uncle, Andy Emephia, who confirmed the family’s bereavement, called for urgent attention to the drainage problem.

“We are bereaved now. My brother will be more scattered if he sees these questions. Why not draw your publication from the angle of the drainage that is not properly covered? That’s the main issue,” he said.

Residents have consequently called for urgent intervention to improve the drainage system and prevent further loss of lives and property during heavy rainfall.