A middle-aged man, identified as John, was on Sunday evening swept away by a heavy flood in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
OsunDailyNG learnt that the incident happened at about 7:20 pm in the Uzuakoli Road area of Umuahia during torrential rain.
According to Daily Post, the victim, who until his death was a commercial tricycle operator popularly known as Keke NAPEP, was swept into a deep gutter by the raging flood while stepping into his residence after the closure of his transport business.
The gushing waters reportedly covered the surface of the gutters in front of the victim’s residence, making it difficult to know the safe place to step.
Family members and neighbours of the victim quickly launched a rescue after realising what had happened and searched every gutter in the neighbourhood, but it did not yield any results.
However, on Monday morning, the victim’s lifeless body was found floating in the flood near Olokoro community in Umuahia South LGA.
Some residents of the Uzuakoli road who spoke about the incident described it as unfortunate, saying that the victim was a friendly and resourceful man.
Speaking on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer of Abia State Police Command, ASP Maureen Chioma Chinaka, said, “Nobody has reported such a matter to us yet.”
