A tragic incident has occurred in Aba, Abia State, after a five-year-old girl, Melody Isaac, was swept away by floodwaters during a heavy downpour along Akpu Road in the Ogbor Hill area, sparking renewed concerns over the dangers posed by open drainage channels.
According to reports, the incident happened on Saturday while it was raining. Melody’s elder brother, Destiny Isaac, said he had been sitting on a drainage slab and called his sister to join him. He explained that Melody noticed he was too close to the drainage and tried to pull him away, but she lost her footing and was swept away by the fast-moving flood.
Their mother, Christiana Ndukwe, a trader at Good Morning Market, said she had gone to work when she received a distress call informing her that her daughter had been carried away by the flood.
She described the incident as heartbreaking, adding that she currently lives separately from her husband due to a family disagreement.
Eyewitnesses said residents immediately launched a search and made frantic efforts to rescue the child, but the strong current made it impossible. They revealed that Melody had been eating before her brother invited her outside to play in the rain. Shortly after joining the other children, she reportedly slipped into the open drainage and disappeared beneath the floodwaters.
