Windstorm kills four, injures 20 in C’River

TRAGEDY struck in 13 out of the 18 local council areas of Cross River State as four persons were reported dead while over 20 others sustained various degrees of injuries in a devastating windstorm that ravaged the state.

Three persons died as the trunks and walls of residential buildings fell on them while one person was struck by lightening.

A statement from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said “the injured are being treated in both orthodox and traditional hospitals while one with the fractured skull was referred to a specialist hospital in Enugu for surgery”.

Samuel Edom, a brother to one of the deceased persons, Mr. Ekam Ekpishoko (60), in Egoja-Ndim in Ogoja Local Council Area, narrated that “when the ominous cloud of rain enveloped the community at about 5.00 p.m., everyone scurried home for safety but moments later, the rain came down in an unprecedented manner amidst windstorm that seemed to have determined to bring down the entire community.

“My brother was in his room with his family while I was in mine in the same building engaging in discussion in loud voices against the sound of storm and rain when suddenly, I heard a loud sound of a tree falling and our home came crumbling down.

“A 22-foot historic tree, which stood about 20 metres from the house was uprooted by the storm and in the process, crushed other nearby smaller trees including palm, mangoes and oranges, bringing down alongside surrounding houses.”

He said after the crash, he called out to his brother but only heard wailing from the family members and that when he managed to get to his brother’s apartment, he found him lying dead having been crushed by a tree branch.

Another victim, Francis Ogar, said: “We have lost much. All the same, it is an act of God and we cannot question it. Our prayer is that the governments at all level should come and help us.”

Over 15,000 residential homes, churches, recreational centres, schools, hospitals and markets were affected by the storms.

Many of the houses were completely uncapped while some were demolished.

About 20,000 displaced persons were mostly the vulnerable – women and children – while some of the victims were accommodated by neighbours, a majority of who were still living helplessly in makeshift huts and in very miserable conditions.

Reacting to the incident, the Yala Council Chairman, Mr. Gabe Ugor, said the council was overwhelmed by the destruction caused by the storm and appealed for urgent attention from the State and Federal Governments to provide succour for the affected persons.

His Ogoja counterpart, John Edi Makpan, lamented that the destruction of public schools would affect academic activities and called for action on the part of the state and Federal Governments and philanthropic organisations.

Assessing the disaster, the Director General of SEMA, Mr. Vincent Aquah, described the destruction caused by the storm as “monumental. This is apparently beyond the coping capacity of the state government and we are appealing to the Federal Government to intervene.”

The victims decried the loss of lives and property and appealed to the Federal and State governments for urgent intervention.

In another disaster, a one-storey building of the Saint Benedict’s Cathedral, Ogoja, has been gutted by fire and property worth millions of naira also lost to the inferno.

A visiting reverend father sustained serious injuries and has been hospitalised.

The building, which served as residential quarters for the cathedral administrator and other priests, had its rooftop and property burnt and nothing was salvaged.

The Cathedral Administrator, Rev. Father George Chokpa, said the incident occurred at about 9.00 a.m. last Monday when he and other priests had left for a nearby town for a retreat, leaving the visiting priest who was on transit to another town at home.

He said the priest had noticed smoke in his apartment on the first floor and came out only to be overwhelmed by the fire, which had engulfed the entire corridor and other rooms.