Key points

• Floodwater pushed the family’s Toyota Corolla into a drain at Okotimi Layout on Monday; the father was rescued and hospitalized.
• Divers searched for two days before boat operators found her body at the Otogwu River axis of Anwai Road on Wednesday.
• Residents say a Mercedes GLK and a Lexus were swept into the same canal before, blaming inadequate drainage.

A university undergraduate has died after floodwater swept her from her father’s car into a drainage canal in Asaba, Delta State, with her body recovered two days later from a nearby river.

The incident happened on Monday at Okotimi Layout, behind Asaba Specialist Hospital, after a heavy downpour.

According to a source, the father was driving his daughter to the site of her industrial training when the flooded road pushed their Toyota Corolla toward the drain.

The student, who was in the front passenger seat, raised her hand and called for help before the current carried her away, the source said. Her father was pulled from the water and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Two-day search

The Delta State Emergency Management Agency, which operates under the Bureau for Special Duties, confirmed the incident.

Ejiro Terry Etacherure, commissioner for the bureau, said the agency began searching on Monday and brought in divers to assist.

The search ran until Wednesday morning, when boat operators at the Otogwu River axis of Anwai Road spotted a floating body and alerted the agency.

A family member was then contacted to identify the remains, which an ambulance from Asaba Specialist Hospital transferred to the morgue.

The victim’s uncle, Andy Emephia, confirmed the family’s loss. However, he asked that attention focus on the cause rather than the family’s grief.

“Why not draw your publication from the angle of the drainage that is not properly covered? That’s the main issue,” he said.

A canal with a history

Residents say the tragedy was predictable. An eyewitness who asked not to be named said vehicles regularly end up in the same channel during heavy rain, and that a Mercedes-Benz GLK and a Lexus had previously fallen in. “Vehicles usually fall into the canal back to back,” he said.

In his view, the drain is simply too small for the volume and force of water that builds up during a storm. “You cannot expect a small drainage for a flood,” he said.

Consequently, residents are calling on the state government to widen and cover the channel before more lives are lost.

The area sits close to one of Asaba’s busiest medical facilities, which makes the road a well-used route even in bad weather.

The death adds to a grim week of flood-related losses across southern Nigeria, coming as communities in neighboring Enugu State count their own casualties after days of rain.

Meanwhile, the Delta government has not yet said whether it plans to inspect or upgrade the Okotimi Layout drainage.