Schools closed as heavy flood ravages Uyo.....SEE PHOTO

Firstclass newsline learnt that schools in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State
capital, called off classes as flood was said to have reached window
level on Thursday.
Some pupils, who were seen at the Methodist Primary School, Itiam
Etoi, along Oron Road, told firstclass newsline that two teachers
asked them to return home because of flood.
The pupils added that their classrooms were not conducive as water had
been dripping through the open roofs, which damaged their books and
uniforms.
A Primary Six pupil, Emmanuel Inyang, told our correspondent that
apart from the flood, the school was not safe.
He said hoodlums usually slept in their classes and stole crops from
the school's farms.
He said, "This is our third term. Now that rain has started, we are
going to miss classes.
"If you have come earlier, you would have seen that the level of the
flood was more than this."
A teacher, Mrs. Eno Ediwok, who was unable to get to the school
because of the flood, told firstclass newsline that other teachers,
who managed to gain access to the school, were asked to send the
pupils home.
According to her, it is not possible for the school to be on session
as flood sweeps through the classes.
A resident, Mrs. Ante Edet, whose daughter is a pupil of the school,
told a source that the hoodlums often harassed young ladies, who
passed through the school premises, in the evening.
She said reports of the incidents had been lodged with policemen, who
allegedly did not do anything to stem the crime.
At St. Patrick's School, Iboko, in the Ukana Offot area of the state,
only a few teachers were seen in the school. There was no pupil there.
A teacher, who did not want her identity disclosed, told our
correspondent that it would be unwise for them to risk the lives of
any child for anything.
She stated that the flood went beyond the window level. She added that
upon seeing the trend, they had to send all the pupils that had come
to the school away.
According to her, a chief in the community came to the school to
verify what had happened before the pupils were sent home.
Meanwhile in Asaba, Delta State, flood on Thursday allegedly killed a
pregnant woman and three teenagers after a heavy rainfall that left
residents of DLA Road, Asaba, stranded.
It was learnt that the victims fell into some drainage channels that
were covered with rain water and drowned.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu, said the
victims, identified as Rosemary Iyamah, Paul Nwanibi, Celestine
Chigozie and Emeka Nwaru, were later evacuated to the Federal Medical
Centre mortuary, Asaba.
He said they drowned after being swept into the drainage channels,
where they gulped some water.
Firstclassnewsline.net