WATER: THE STORY

Sunny Ade's recording of the popular Yoruba adage : "Ojo ni waa, ao beni kan s'ota oo....", roughly translates to the title of Fela's epic song: water:'No Get Enemy'. The legend of the Yoruba heroine, Moremi, and the Osun Festival also show the importance of water in Yoruba cosmology. However, in spite of the reference of lagoons, lakes and rivers in the old Oyo state , the Ogunpa River had its say in Ibadan in 1980.
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Sunday 31 August 1980 was indeed a tragic date that would live long in the memory if those that witnessed the disaster wrought by flood. The rain which started in the early afternoon, though nit unduly heavy in many parts, did not let up until after midnight. Its aftermath according to the state governor, Bola I've: "22 bodies have been recovered from the feleye area". At Omitiwoju, 3 dead bodies... There are four other bodies in salvation Army road. In molete, 4 persons are known to have died. We expect more casualties.
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The final till was more than 150 dead, hundreds of destroyed properties and vehicles and a total disruption of public services, such as electricity, telephone facilities and water works. All the pumps and machine at Eleiyele water works became submerged and stopped working. image
At Omitowoju, the deluge caused the collapse of more than ten mud houses.
The calamity for a particular house in Adamasingba was extreme. Of ten persons that died, eight were children from one family.
Dear readers, water is life. But water can be highly destructive.