2019 Batch A Corps members currently undergoing their 3-week mandatory orientation camp in Taraba were hit by a horrendous windstorm which landed as many as 33 individuals in the hospital.
The storm reportedly damaged properties and buildings in the camp, forcing corps members to panic and scamper in different directions.
According to reports, the storm began late in the afternoon and disrupted the cultural activities which are usually organized towards the end of the camp program to celebrate different ethnicities in the country.
The disaster soon took another form as it began to lift heavy objects, throwing them randomly around the camp.
It blew off the roof sheets of halls provided for corps members as shelter and destroyed the NYSCambulance stationed at the camp.
Relating the incident to newsmen, the NYSC state coordinator in Taraba, Florence Yaakugh, mentioned that although some were corps members sustained injuries, no one was killed by the storm.
She said, “We were all here as camp officials and corps members having the cultural festival on Saturday when the windstorm all of a sudden started. The storm was so strong that visibility was so poor for both the corps members who were on parade and the camp officials.
“While scampering for safety because of the fierceness of the storm, some corps members who had some health challenges like asthma, chest congestion, and the likes were choked and hospitalized. About 33 of them were moved to the clinic of the camp, of which nine were referred to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jalingo because of their condition.”
The coordinator subsequently stated that in the camp’s clinic, 24 corps members had already been discharged while another five that were rushed to the Federal Medical Center in Jalingo had returned to camp as well.
Florence equally complained about the properties damaged as a result of the storm and the danger of erosion in the coming months, when the raining season starts.
Also, read: EFCC detains nine senior FIRS officials for mismanaging tax revenues
Leave a Reply