By Praise Chinecherem
An 8-year old boy has been swept away by a ravaging flood in Nkpor community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state.
A combination of floods from the premises of Immaculate Hearts Sisters Convent and Our Ladies Industrial Center in the area had during last Sunday’s downpour, reportedly swept the deceased into the gully.
Anambra Daily gathered that the drowned corpse was recovered Friday morning, half a kilometer away from the gully he plunged into, with one of his hands broken.
The deceased, identified as son of a vulcanizer, was said to be returning home with his mother around 7.30 pm under the rain when the incident occurred.
Narrating the unfortunate incident, a resident of the area said, “While approaching the gully from where he and his mother were expected to pass through to their home, the boy started running faster than his mother.
“The mother started shouting and calling him to turn back. But the more she shouted, the more the boy continued running until he reached the narrow part of the gully.
“It was in attempt to jump over the gully that the surging flood swept his feet off and he plunged into the gully.”
The man who gave his name as Ogadi Okafor said the mother (backing another baby) who attempted to jump into the gully to rescue the son would have also drowned with the baby if not for quick intervention of some youths within the area.
The bereaved parent, who declined comments had hired a vehicle which conveyed the corpse from Nkpor to their home town.
Sympathisers who revealed the family had earlier lost three members of the family, blamed government for allowing the gully expand over the years instead of constructing a ring or box culvert to link the road to the streets.
A community member and also former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Idemili branch, Mr Samuel Chukwukelu accused successive governments of abandoning most roads in the community.
He said, “The contractor who was awarded the road project from Our Ladies road through Uke Street to Attah road linking Nkpor/Umuoji road, abandoned the project half way at the particular erosion prone area.
“The gully has increased both in width and depth by the surging floods and has been converted to a refuse dump site by the residents.
“The boy’s death is very unfortunate and unwarranted, because it could have been averted if successive governments had done the needful.”
When contacted, Police spokesperson, Tochukwu Ikenga, said the report was yet to get to him as at the time of filing the report.
