It was a sorrowful moment in Ikare Akoko, the headquarters of Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State, as windstorm killed three people and destroyed over 150 houses.That the windstorm occurred on Sunday during a downpour that lasted about 40 minutes, rendering more than 300 people homeless and destroyiny properties.

The rain, according to eyewitnesses, began around 7:00p.m. and became violent amidst a heavy storm, which removed roofs of over 150 houses.Several buildings collapsed in the process, while several trees and utility poles fell.

It also affected the Olukare and Owa-Ale palaces, Local Authority Primary School, Okela, Ilepa, several houses in Okoja and Iku communities, without sparing Okegbe Area and its environs. Amongst the three people who reportedly lost their lives in the disaster was a popular butcher in the commercial centre of Akokoland, Ikare, popularly known as Ayepareti by his admirers and customers. Sources in the area said the deceased, Ayepareti, was trying to take cover in one of the affected buildings during the rain but one of the buildings collapsed on him. They added that immediately the building collapsed on him, sympathisers thronged the scene to rescue him from the debris and rushed him to the hospital, where he was later confirmed dead. Sympathising with his constituents, the House of Assembly member representing the Akoko North East Constituency, Mr. Rasheed Elegbele, described the disaster as shocking and a huge loss to the people. Elegbeleye, who is the Minority Leader of the Assembly, alongside other victims, “callled on the state government to come to the aid of the affected people by providing necessary assistance at these trying times.”