The losses cut across individual homes, businesses, public infrastructure, and several public utilities. According to the Afinju FM reporter who went on the streets to assess the damage, “it was as if the wind had a mission to leave so many people in agony”.

A bad day for Signage owners

Some of the worst-hit are signage owners whose billboards and signposts were severely damaged.

A drive from Oke-Fia through Orita Olaiya to Abere, revealed the devastation that signage owners and public advertising operators suffered.

At the Aregbe junction, a recently installed billboard crashed into an articulated truck, severely damaging the trailer. As of the time of filing this report, efforts were ongoing to lift the billboard off the truck as vehicular movement is also hampered.

Along the same route and the Old Garage axis, several other billboards and signage structures were either ripped apart or collapsed.

Public and private properties badly affected

Osogbo Grammar School, one of the oldest Secondary Schools in the town, had a stretch of its fence torn down.

The campaign office of the former House of Representatives candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Irepodun/Olorunda/Orolu/Osogbo Federal Constituency seat, Mrs. Abosede Ogooluwa, also got badly hit.

The popular Jesus Court building in Oke-Fia was also affected as some parts of its roof were blown off. Two properties beside Jesus Court were not so lucky as their roofs got blown away entirely, leaving the buildings open to the elements, with attendant loss of properties.

From the popular Orita Olaiya to the State Secretariat in Abere, our Reporter counted about sixteen solar street lights that had collapsed as the wind ravaged the town.

Impending disaster in some locations

While many structures were destroyed in some locations, the wind left behind impending disasters in some other locations around Osogbo.

Several billboards were badly hit, but did not collapse, becoming disasters in waiting if they are not immediately inspected and taken down. Some of these were spotted in several locations around the town.

These half-damaged structures suggest that Government’s response to the disaster must not be restricted to the obvious damages, but must extend to inspection of several other structures that survived, but have been left in dangerous conditions.

Gov. Adeleke directs immediate response, promises support

In a swift reaction to the unfortunate event, the Governor of Osun State, Sen. Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, speaking via a statement released by his Spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, directed relevant government agencies to swing into action.

In the statement, the Governor directed the Ministry of Works to quickly swing into action by clearing the motorways to prevent further accidents.

He sympathised with the victims of the heavy rainstorms, and promised that his government will do “everything morally and officially possible through Osun State Emergency Management Agency (OSEMA) with a view to offsetting the attendant losses incurred by the victims in Osogbo and other communities affected by such unfortunate developments.”

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