Pregnant woman, 6 others drown in flood

NO less than seven people lost their lives in a rampaging flood as a result of heavy rainfall in Calabar, Cross River State, Wednesday night.

The rain, which lasted several hours, caused severe flooding, uprooted trees, submerged buildings and swept away cars in some parts of the city.

At Abedem, Edim Otop, in Calabar Municipality, flood water uprooted trees, which crashed on a house in a nearby valley, burying six members of a family in the rubble.

However, his pregnant wife, Ekaete, 30; his two children, David and Deborah; mother in-law, Iquo Effiong and two other relatives, Samuel and Anthony, were crushed by the rubble of the collapsed building.

Akpan Ubong, a neighbour, whose house is adjacent to that of Amos, said flood water descending the hill at high speed towards the valley, where their houses are located, uprooted trees on its path, sending them crashing down.

He said the home of Amos, which is directly on the path of the rampaging flood water, was crushed along with its occupants.

It was an emotional scene as the mangled and lifeless bodies were removed from the rubble by men of the Cross River State Fire Service, who rushed to the scene to help rescue the victims.

Swept under

Close to the scene of the collapsed building, a girl, aged about five, was swept away by flood water on Atimbo-Akpabuyo Road into a gully and buried underneath concrete slabs from a destroyed culvert.

Efforts to contact Mr. David Akate, Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, were unsuccessful as his mobile line was switched off.

A source said the six bodies were removed from the rubble of the collapsed building and deposited at the mortuary of the General Hospital, Calabar.