60-year-old drowns in Bauchi flood

Written by Saliu Gbadamosi, Bauchi Monday, 30 July 2012

THE heavy downpour witnessed for almost two hours in some parts of Bauchi metropolis last Saturday left sorrow and gnashing of teeth on its trails, as a 60-year-old civil servant in Bauchi State got drowned at Gwallameji area of Bauchi Local Government Area of the state.

The deceased, Caleb Mida, was until his death, a member of staff of the Bauchi State Hospital Management Board and the Nigerian Tribune learnt that he was to retire from service this year, having spent the mandatory 35 years in service.

Narrating what happened to journalists on Sunday, a neighbour of the deceased, Usman Ahmadu, stated that Mida and his friend, one Dauda Istifanu, were coming back from their farms near Tabuli village when the heavy rain started, adding that the two took shelter in a Fulani man’s house in Tabuli village for the rain to subside before going home.

According to Ahmadu, as soon as the rain subsided, the two left for Gwallameji, adding that Mida unfortunately fell inside the deep water as he was trying to cross a culvert covered with water very close to his house.

He added that before any help could come, the deceased, who was a father of seven children, had got drowned, saying that he died before he reached the hospital where he was rushed to for treatment.

“We sat together in the evening near his house beside the old COCIN Church in Gwallameji when he said that he was going to inspect his farm and that was where the rain met him. When coming back home, he was walking in front, while Dauda was behind him. The water covered the culvert near his house and he stepped on a wrong side and fell inside the pool of water,” Ahmadu informed.

via Tribune