Three days after the Potiskum-Gashua road in Yobe State was severed, heavy rainfall lasting over 12 hours on Friday has caused another bridge to collapse at Jumbam in Bursari Local Government Area, along the Damaturu-Dapchi federal road in Yobe State.
This road was previously the alternative route connecting six local government areas in northern Yobe and some in eastern Yobe to Damaturu, the state capital.
Bala Mohammed, a driver based in Babbangida, the headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Area, informed a Channels Television correspondent that the incident occurred in the early hours of today.
The unfortunate event has now left nine local government areas—Machina, Nguru, Karasuwa, Bade, Jakusko, and Yusufari in northern Yobe, as well as Geidam, Yunusari, and Bursari in eastern Yobe—relying on canoes to access the state capital or travel through Hadejia in Jigawa State, a route that spans over 500 kilometers.
The severance of these two major federal roads has already crippled economic and farming activities in the northern and eastern regions of the state.