Every activity they might have lined up for the day gets cancelled for another unplanned, yet compulsory task: beating back surging tides of floodwater from their hovel in Idi Ori, a shantly settlement in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State.Likewise, for Akintayo Awe, a downpour does not come with good tidings. If it floods, he experiences great hardship keeping his valuables safe from the rainwater.
The front section of the perimeter fence protecting Idowu’s building caved ito the surge of torrential floodwater, in March, thereby increasing the vulnerability of his building to the fury of flood whenever it rains. He said: “While many families were asleep, my wife, four children and I spent most of our night drawing back floodwater from our apartment. The chair and the rug spread in my sitting room got soaked. All electrical appliances in the house had to be disconnected before we were able to switch off the electricity source.
Tucked in a badly planned estate, the Idi Ori slum lies within the flood plain and it is historically a swampland. Residents started development efforts in the late 1990s by filling the swampland with municipal waste materials and sand, to accommodate buildings. Wastewater that ought to flow through the canal, gets stagnated in the community because of the problem. At the moment, the canal is covered in flourishing weed and a mass of non-biodegradable waste materials, which make effluent impassable.
After his first encounter with an alligator in his room, Bamigboye has been sleeping with one eye closed. Anytime he hears a strange noise from any corner of his room, he recoils in fear. When agitation for potable water got to the peak, the residents pooled resources to connect the community to the state’s waterworks, thereby laying pipes from the nearest station to their homes.
In no time, the borehole became dry of water due to the inefficiency of the pumping machine and residentsresorted to unsafe methods of getting water for domestic use, by patronising water vendors.A swarm of flies hovered round Esther Malik while she ate from a soot-coated aluminum pot. But, she was not perturbed by the buzz of the rampaging insects. She sat, leaning on a vertical metal beam standing between the corridor of the squalid wooden house she resides and a general toilet.
There is no gainsaying that an outbreak may take significant toll on the community, given that the only General Hospital in the area was built in Akere, a neigbouring community. Access to the health facility from Idi Ori is, however, limited because of bad road.
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