Barely one month after a thunderstorm ravaged Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu was on Wednesday pummelled by another, which disrupted flight operations and destroyed the terminal building, the General Aviation Terminal, and the staff school of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
A source close to the airport told our correspondent that the storm occurred early Wednesday morning and affected FAAN’s electric power lines to the airport, its staff secondary and primary school buildings, private residential buildings and the pilots' lounge.
The source told our correspondent that the destruction affected flight operations for hours, but they were restored in the afternoon.
Confirming the incident, FAAN’s Ag. General Manager for Corporate Communications, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, said in a statement that FAAN’s immediate remedial actions enabled flight operations in and out of the airport.
Expressing regret to airport users and the public for the inconvenience, she said FAAN was doing its best to restore normalcy, adding that there had been neither loss of life nor injury. She also said that flight operations had not been affected at the airport.
But, a source close to the airport insisted that early morning flights to Enugu from Lagos and Abuja were disrupted.
For instance, Air Peace flight from Lagos at 7 am and Arik Air flight at 8:30 am were all affected by the thunderstorm. Also, Arik’s flight from Abuja to Enugu at 11:55 am was equally disrupted.
It would be recalled that on October 15, and for one week, the NAIA functioned without radar after it was affected by the thunderstorm and lightning. The equipment was eventually fixed.
The thunderstorm disrupted radar activities at Abuja Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) site.
A top management staff said it was discovered that two lines that convert radar signals to enable them travel a long distance and make them readable were burnt during the storm.
A report of the incident also showed that such accessories as network time protocol and encoder were also burnt or misconfigured by the thunderstorm. Some of them were restored immediately.
