A heavy downpour on Tuesday that lasted till the early hour of Wednesday has ravaged a section of the Ado Ekiti capital city of Ekiti State cutting off certain parts of the metropolis.
Mainly affected is the Ureje area, along Polytechnic road and other adjoining communities like Boom Town, Eminrin and Ijelu village, fondly called Aba Oyinbo.
The torrential rainfall started around 8pm on Tuesday and fell intermittently throughout the night until 6am on Wednesday.
A resident of the area, Idowu Adaramoye, said the bridge on Ado-Ijan-Ikare road, which also linked the capital city to the Federal Polytechnic, was overrun by the flood.
He said those travelling along that route between that six hours had to park their vehicles at nearby filling stations and waited until it subsided.
Adaramoye added that the flood also surged into a church and about five houses located within the vicinity of Ureje Bridge.
“Nobody could cross that bridge to the Polytechnic side or go into Ado Ekiti. Most of the residents had to wake up to catch a glimpse of the ravaging fast-moving water”.
Also, residents of the Boom Town, Eminrin, stayed indoors till 12 noon before they could cross Ureje stream that devastated their environment.
The Chairman of the community, Oladimeji, appealed to government to dredge the stream in order to prevent recurrence of the flooding.
“This Ureje stream was dredged about three years ago, but the job was not well done and the effect is what we are feeling today.
“About four houses could have been destroyed but for communal efforts made to ensure that we concrete the same inner Ureje bridge that linked us with Oke Ila region.
“There is need for the government to do more thorough job to dredge in order to reduce the water level,” he said.
Residents of Ikere Ekiti also felt a dose of the devastation as the flood rendered many homeless while property worth millions of Naira were destroyed by the flood.
The affected areas in Ekiti are: Kajola Adun Ogbon in Oke Osun, Alade filling Station Area in Odo Oja.
