There was pandemonium in Katsina State on Thursday as a downpour preceded by strong winds killed six people and injured five others.
The Executive Secretary of Katsina State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Aminu Waziri, confirmed the incident on Friday.
The downpour, which was the first to be witnessed in the state capital this year, began few minutes after 5.00pm on Thursday and lasted about one hour. The downpour began with strong winds, which damaged structures and led to the death of the victims.
Areas that were badly affected included Kukah Gashua, Modoji, Shinkafi, Ambassador, the military and the Nigerian Air Force barracks in the city, Makera and Kambarawa respectively.
In the areas, houses were damaged, rooftops were blown off, fences were felled and several electric poles and cables were uprooted and flung off.
Among other buildings affected were the office of the West African Examination Council along the House of Assembly Road that was under construction and Shinkafi Quranic Model Primary School in Shinkafi, which had their roofs blown off.
Waziri said six people died in the incident. Although, he did not give their identities, he said four deaths were recorded at Kukah Gashua, while one was recorded each in Modoji and Shinkafi.
According to a report by The Punch, one of the dead persons was a 25-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Mustapha Salele.
Salele was said to have been killed while attempting to put some heavy stones on the roof of his building to protect it against the strong winds.
The strong winds reportedly blew him and the stones off and his body was later retrieved from a nearby house.
Family sources said Salele got married 13 days ago and had recently moved to the house.
Waziri, who described the incident as a natural disaster, said he could not duly quantify the damage in financial terms because members of his staff were still assessing the extent of damage with a view to determining areas where the state government could be of assistance.
He said, “My team is still out there assessing the situation. So I can not quantify the damage in terms of naira and kobo yet. But from what I saw at the military barracks and the Air force barracks alone, I would put the damage at the military barracks at N50m and that of Air force barracks at N30m. What happened was a natural disaster.”
