A middle-aged man identified as John was swept away by rain in Umuahia on Sunday evening.
The incident happened at about 7:20 pm in the Uzuakoli Road area of Umuahia during torrential rain in the Abia State capital.
The victim, who until his death was a commercial tricycle operator popularly known as Keke NAPEP, was swept into a deep gutter by the raging flood as he was trying to step into his residence after the closure of his transport business.
It was learnt that gushing waters covered the surface of the gutters in front of the victim’s residence, making it hard for him to know where to step.
Realising what had happened, family members and neighbours of the victim quickly launched a rescue party for him, searching every gutter in the neighbourhood.
The search, according to a resident of Uzuakoli Road, did not yield any results.
But on Monday morning, the victim’s lifeless body was found floating in the flood near Olokoro community in Umuahia South LGA.
Some residents of the Uzuakoli road who spoke about the incident described it as unfortunate, saying that the victim was a friendly and resourceful man.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of Abia State Police Command, ASP Maureen Chioma Chinaka, said “Nobody has reported such a matter to us yet.”
