LAGOS, Nigeria (The Informant247) – No fewer than nine persons escaped death after a storey building sunk due to torrential rainfall in Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos, officials said.
“NEMA received a distressed alert on a sinking storey building where nine people are said to be trapped. The building is located at 47 Akinwunmi street, Akinwunmi North Estate, Mende, Maryland, Ikeja,” the Lagos Territorial Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, said in a statement.
Farinloye said one of the victims, identified only as Blessing, told the agency that they were up to nine, mostly women, who were trapped when the building started sinking after being submerged.
He said the agency’s officials were deployed to rescue the victims after receiving the distress call.
“The torrential rainfall, which lasted for about four hours in the early hours of the day, flooded lots of communities in Lagos State. NEMA advance team upon close observations called for more reinforcement of personnel,” he said.
Flooding has wrought widespread devastation in northern and southern Nigeria in recent weeks, washing away thousands of houses.