•How residents lost entire family members
•Over 200 killed, 3,000 households destroyed, many residents swept into River Niger – Eyewitnesses
From John Adams, Minna
Pain. Agony. Frustration. These are what you’ll find on the faces of the people of Angwar Hausawa (Hausa settlement) and Timmaza communities in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State after a mysterious flood disaster that swept through the two communities recently.
The massive flooding reportedly wiped out more than 3,018 households and killed well over 168 people even as unofficial figures remain far higher.
Tears have continued to flow among the residents, particularly those who lost their loved ones to the May 30 flood disaster as hopes of recovering more bodies have begun to fade.
After about five hours of rainfall, Mokwa, the busiest commercial transit town in the state, was greeted with its worst disaster in history. The two Hausa-dominated communities were reduced to rubble, with nothing to salvage.
Mokwa is prone to perennial flooding, but it usually occurs within communities that are by the riverbank. However, last week’s flooding went beyond its known boundaries, sparking speculations as to what could have gone wrong.
Tales of horror
Twenty-five-year-old Adamu Hassan said he lost 12 members of his family, including his father and mother, leaving only him and his wife, Amina. He recounted how he escaped being swept away by the flood.
Adamu, who spoke in Hausa, told the reporter: “After I got married, I was still staying with my parents. But last month, I got my personal house and I moved there with my wife, leaving my other nine siblings with my mother and father.
“I had already gone out to where I was working when I heard that the flood had destroyed the entire Angwar Hausawa and by the time I rushed down, I couldn’t recognise my parents’ house again. Everything had been swept away.”
Adamu disclosed that the bodies of his mother and those of his four siblings have been recovered, adding however, that “we are almost losing hope of recovering the remaining bodies.
“The flood has stopped but I cannot find my siblings. We learnt that many people were swept away into River Niger and nobody can access the place, so our hope is almost lost,” he added.
But the story of 45-year-old Murujiya Aliyu, a housewife who lost nine of her children, aged between three and ten to the flood, is more than pathetic.
She told our correspondent that the tragedy struck after her husband had gone to his place of business, leaving her and the children at home.
Narrating her ordeal in Hausa, Murujiya said she was outside the house doing some domestic work when suddenly she saw water from nowhere. And before she could order the children out of the house, the entire building collapsed on them.
“I became confused on what to do because the water came with force. I saw my collapsed building being swept away with my children, I couldn’t go after them,” Murujiya said, her tears streaming down to her fatigued cheeks.
She said she became incapacitated when a heavy wood hit her right leg, throwing her into the flood from where she managed to escape.
“I feel like dying because there is nothing more for me in this world,” she groaned as tears dropped from her eyes.
At the time of speaking to her at a makeshift IDP camp at Mokwa Primary School where she was nursing her leg injury, only three bodies of her nine missing children had been recovered and buried while her husband recuperates in the hospital from the shock.
For Abubakar Suleiman, a 70-year-old fish seller at Kainji Motor Park in Mokwa popularly called “Manager”, his life is now meaningless after losing 10 members of his family from his two houses.
He had two wives and 10 children – the eldest was 15. Only two of his children survived the flood, as his two wives and eight of their children were swept away.
His two houses were lost to the flood. Now homeless, Suleiman is now taking refuge at the home of one of his extended family members in Mokwa town.
Like many of those who lost their family members and loved ones, Suleiman told our correspondent that he had already gone out for the day’s business when he suddenly heard that there was flooding.
“I quickly came back but the entire place was already submerged and there was nothing I could do. I could not even recognize where my houses were because the whole place was submerged.
“I am finished; there is nothing again left for me in this world. There is nothing anybody can give me that will make me happy again in life. There is nothing to live for again,” he lamented, with tears almost dropping from his eyes.
He disclosed that his two surviving children, all boys, escaped the flood because they had already gone out for their commercial motorcycle business before the incident.
He said the bodies of his two wives, alongside five children, were recovered but the rest were still missing, adding that “I pray that they find the bodies of the remaining ones for me to bury.”
Although the official death toll released by the government agencies involved in search and rescue operations was put at 168 as of Wednesday, June 4, Mohammed Ndana Mokwa, one of the undertakers, who was involved in the burial of the victims, said the death toll was over 200.
According to him, 120 people were buried on the first day of the flood, adding that they began burying victims on that day from 9:00am till 2:00am the next day before they took a break to rest while more bodies were being recovered.
“Honestly, on the first day alone, we buried about 200 people and the majority of them were women and children. When we resumed around 7:00am in the morning, we buried another 40 people.
“Ever since then there is no day that we don’t bury people, at least five every day, even today (Wednesday ) we just buried three children that were discovered from the rubble,” he added.
According to the Ndalele of Mokwa, the paramount ruler of the town, Alhaji Mohammed Shaba, the cause of the flood remains a mystery because the intensity of the rain, even though it lasted about five hours, was not enough to cause that magnitude of floods.
He disclosed that the rain had even stopped before the flood came from nowhere at about 7:00am.
“Nobody can convince me that the rainfall of Wednesday May 30 was responsible for the level of flood that was witnessed in my domain. This is the first time in the history of Mokwa that we are witnessing this kind of devastation.
“I don’t want to be dragged into making any comments about the cause of the disaster or bring a spiritual dimension to it. All we believe is that it was an act of God. That is all I can say for now.”
The paramount ruler also disclosed that the casualty figure would have been higher but for the fact that “many people had left their homes for their various places of work and businesses when suddenly and from nowhere we saw houses and human beings floating on the water.”
Alhaji Tanko Bala, a 50-year-old businessman, who is also the Sarkin Hausawa, (Chief of Hausa) described the flood as the first of its kind in the area.
“Anybody who said that the flood was as a result of that rainfall that night is completely telling lies. We have witnessed much heavier rains than this but they never caused any flood in Mokwa town here.”
Alhaji Tanko said that he strongly believed that the death toll was more than the figures that were being announced, stressing that “apart from people from the two communities, some travellers were caught up and swept away by the flood.
“Some families were completely swept away without anybody telling how many they were in the house. Some bodies were even recovered from as far as the River Niger by neighbouring communities and brought to us for burial.
“This is one disaster that the affected communities will not forget in a hurry. The extent of destruction is unprecedented. I can tell you that over 200 people died,” he stated.
Pathetic condition of IDPs
Meanwhile as search and rescue operations continue, skeletally, the condition of the over 3,000 displaced people currently in IDP is pathetic with no roof on their heads.
Only women and children have been accommodated in a tent provided by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) that hardly accommodates 50 people with very poor sanitary conditions.
While the majority of the displaced victims sleep in an empty classroom in the primary school being used as IDP, others are said to be taking refuge with families and relations in the town, while waiting for relief.
Majority of them who spoke to our correspondent expressed fears over the possibility of the government properly resettling them even when the federal government has approved N2 billion to build resettlement homes for them. It also donated 20 trucks of rice. Meanwhile, the victims are awaiting a major intervention from the state government.
“Right now we don’t have anywhere to go, that is why we are staying here. We don’t know what the government will do for us to enable us to have a place to put our heads,” one of the victims said.
They were, however, unanimous in commending NEMA for its efforts so far, especially the fair distribution of relief materials that have been donated by the government and individuals.
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima disclosed this when he paid a sympathy and assessment visit to the affected communities on Wednesday.
The Vice President, however, made it clear that the federal government could not do everything for them as the state and the local governments have their role to play towards giving the people a new lease of life.
He disclosed that the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Sabi Abdullahi has been directed to relocate to Mokwa to ensure that all the relief materials get to the targeted beneficiaries.