It was a black Monday for residents of Jibia local government area of Katsina State as they experienced a downpour that resulting in flood swept away 53 people.
Sani and late wife
A downpour that lasted several hours and resulting in flood on Monday, claimed 53 lives, destroyed over 500 houses and killed 260 livestock as well as destroyed farmlands in Jibia local government area of Katsina State
According to Vanguard, those who died were mostly children and women as some were washed away by flood while others died as a result of collapsed buildings.
While speaking to a correspondent, Sani Yahaya is a resident of Dan Tudu Sabuwar who lost his newly married 22-year-old wife, Hindatu Sani, also known as Ummi, recounted his loss and narrated his ordeal.
According to him, Ummi died in the flood that also demolished part of their house while he was away on business trip.
Sani said his wife’s last phone call to him was when the flood had submerged the house and she told him the water had got to her neck and was about taking her away. Shortly after, he lamented, her mobile phone went dead.
“I buy and sell second hand clothes. We go to Shinkafi in Zamfara every Wednesday to buy clothes and transport them, together with my boss, Awwalu, to the southern part of the country to sell”, the bereaved husband said.
“On the fateful day, she called to notify me that she was feeling discomfort in the house and I told her not to panic but pray that everything will be alright. Later that night, she called me three times but I was asleep.
"I called her back when I woke up and she told me that she was scared, that everywhere was flooded by a downpour and that I should help her call for rescue.
"All those I called, including my younger brother, to go and rescue her told me the water had taken over the road and there was nowhere to get to my house.
“Shortly thereafter, she called to tell me that the water had reached her neck and was about to sweep her away. Her mobile phone then went dead.
“I cherished a lot of things about her. She was cool headed, obedient, respectful and of good character. We married about six months and 10 days before this incident separated us.
“My parents and other members of our family survived the flood. They are currently taking refuge in the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp”.
I couldn’t rescue my brother’s wife – Younger brother
Ibrahim Officer, Sani’s younger brother, who was living houses away from his elder brother’s house, said he attempted to go and rescue Ummi but there was no road to get to the house as the flood had taken over everywhere.
Officer however said, “I rescued our parents and my family. He (my elder brother) told me on phone to go and rescue his wife, that she called him around 2am to say flood water had reached her neck and about to claim her life…and that I should send somebody from my house to rescue her.
“I was on my way when I found that the flood water was already touching my neck and head. I turned back as I couldn’t proceed. I called my brother to tell him that I couldn’t get to the house. That was when he told me that he was calling her phone but it was no longer going through.
“The water took her away. I went to Niger Republic, precisely Amada Runka, in search of her corpse. We saw the corpses of several persons washed away by the flood scattered in between stones but we couldn’t find her corpse. Later they called me that they found her corpse in a town called Contini close to Maradi. I wept”.
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