But for residents in flood-prone areas, like Orile-Agege, an ancient Lagos community, it is a burden they have to contend with every year. Flooding caused by downpours has claimed lives and destroyed property in the neighbourhood.
For the elderly woman, who is in her late 70s, it was a close shave with death as floodwater took over her apartment and damaged her property. Residents blamed the incessant flooding on the alleged failure of the state government to construct an inner road on Igbayilola Street, and the low depth of a newly constructed drainage channel on the street.
She said, “The flood also destroyed a lot of property – electronics, chairs and clothes. I have been living here for 10 years but the damage caused by flood that day had never been this much. Another resident, James Lucky, also expressed fears that the community was in for more dangers if the government did not find solutions to the perennial flooding.
Like Arifajogun, the 80-year-old landlord panics over rains that many see as blessing. Many times, he wishes it never rains. She said, “I’m always restless during the rainy season. We stay awake at night if it rains. Since a four-year-old girl was swept away by water, I have been taking my grandchildren to my relative’s house in the neighbouring community to sleep because our house can be flooded at night.
“However, we shouldn’t blame the government alone. Some people are in the habit of throwing waste into the gutter. The major cause of flooding is the low depth of the drainage channel. It overflows whenever it rains heavily.”Predominantly a coastal city, flooding is a nightmare to thousands of people resident in Lagos, especially in low-lying areas. On a yearly basis, lives are lost, houses submerged, and families displaced by the natural disaster.
Apart from blocked drainage channels and canals, houses built on water right of way have contributed to flooding in the nation’s economic capital. Such is the situation in Igbogbo community on the outskirts of Ikorodu. “There are a lot of barriers blocking the drainage channels in the affected areas which are the major cause of the flood. No loss of life or injury recorded but property worth millions of naira was destroyed,” LASEMA disclosed on itsThe Director-General of the agency, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, also disclosed that a flood on Raman Shoderu Street, Powerline, off Sagamu Road, affected many houses on the same day.
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