The body of 43-year-old Garba Joseph old has been recovered by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Abuja.
FEMA’s search and rescue team recovered the corpse after two-day search from a flooded river around Trade Moore Estate, Lugbe in Abuja.
Joseph was washed off last Wednesday during heavy downpour.
Narrating the incident, an eyewitness account, Kenneth Chima, who captured the incident on video said: “They were four men that tried walking through the water and I kept warning them to go back, three of them went back but only this man insisted on crossing, unfortunately the water overpowered him and washed him away.”
FEMA Director General Idriss Abbas decried the increasing rate of flood in the FCT, which he attributed to apathy towards government’s directives and early warnings.
The FEMA DG advised residents not to underestimate the strength of water during flooding.
“What we are experiencing now is flash flood, the water builds up speedily and comes unnoticed hence very dangerous,” he explained.
He appealed to residents to desist from unwholesome environmental practices, especially indiscriminate waste disposal on water ways, building on flood plains, as these could block water ways and lead to flooding.
The body of the victim, according to FEMA, has been laid to rest at Lugbe cemetery by his family.