Again Flash flood swept away two kids in Minna metropolis 

By Daniel Ebi, Minna   

Tragedy  struck  again in Niger State as two Children drowned in a flash flood Following over ten hours of rain within Minna metropolis  on Tuesday. 

  Corpses of the two children, a boy and a nine year old girl were discovered in a drainage after the heavy rainfall that started in early hours and later in the afternoon yesterday in Minna and environs. 

The tragedy however struck when residents of Tunga community in the state capital  raised  alarm that a girl of nine years old had been swept away  by the flash flood. 

Local  rescuers had thought that the flood carried only the girl whose parents are said to hail from Edo State until the girl’s father was contacted to identify his daughter and discovered that a young male child was also killed in the rain floods 

It was gathered that, the girl who was the only daughter among three children of her parents was sent to the Tunga market (about two kilometers from their residents)to purchase some soup ingredients. She was accompanied by her elder brother an eleven years old boy.

According to family  source,  they went with an umbrella since the rain had been falling from the early hours of the  morning , although not heavy.

” At the time they left the house the rain had paused momentarily but there was still signs that the rains could come down heavily.

“While they were on their way, the rains  came down heavily and in torrents. Almost immediately it flooded all the drainage and roads in Tunga making it impossible for motorists to move. They had to park and waited for the rains to subsideand the floods recede.”

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Eye witness account  said  both children were returning from the market when the girl may have slipped and fallen into one of the drainage constructed by Julius Berger  firm, but her slippers and the nylon bag she carried fell from her which her brother picked up for her. 

It was further  gathered that  as the flood was carrying her away, her brother was shouting to residents in the neighbourhood to help him rescue his sister who was being swept away by the flood. 

The people could not help due to the  water level at the drainage   They watched helplessly as the water carried the little girl. 

The water kept carrying the girl while the brother went back to their residence to inform their parents about the tragedy. 

The  Girl’s father was later contacted to identify his daughter’s corpse at a tunnel on Mandela Street( more that four kilometers from where the flood carried her) and when he got there he found the corpse of the little girl and that of another boy who was also killed by the flood.

 Spokesman of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA Hussaine Ibrahim, when contacted on Tuesday night to react to the incident,  expressed shock over the tragedy and said the agency would visit the girl’s family to find out more details.

“The agency is not aware of the disaster but my people will visit the home of the girl at Tunga tomorrow to meet with the parents,” he said.