By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Delta State Government has confirmed that a rainstorm claimed no fewer than seven lives, with others injured.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who confirmed the sad disaster during a news conference in Asaba, the state capital, said the victims included a 10-year-old boy.
According to Aniagwu, deaths were recorded in Oko axis of Oshimili and Okpanam, Oshimili South North Local Government Areas of the state.
“The storm that greeted the downpour on Wednesday, in the Oko axis, we lost six persons as the rainstorm fell on a building and some trees and the collapsed structure led to the death of six persons.
“One other is critically injured and he is being attended to at the Asaba Specialist Hospital, while five others are in a stable condition but sustained some level of injury,” he said.
“There is also another one that is so pathetic. In Okotomi Community in Okpanam, the state government is intervening with flood control measures to save the community from flooding and to open up the area.
“But on account of the rainstorm on Wednesday, a 10-year-old lad, who was returning from Church in the evening slipped and fell into the drain that was being constructed.
“And because of the large volume of water in the ongoing construction project, the lad was swept by the flood and all attempts by neighbours and others to recover him failed, though the search is still on as at today.
“This is quite disturbing and we pray that God will grant their families the strength to bear that loss, even as we ask God to comfort us as a state,”Aniagwu said.
He said that a government team coordinated by the Secretary to the State Government, Chief Patrick Ukah was on ground to ensure that the body was recovered.
