‘Lagos Floods:’ Nigeria’s megacity underwater 2 months after renewed efforts to prevent flooding
Heavy rainfall in Lagos has hampered movements in Nigeria’s most popular urban city on Wednesday as major roads and living communities have been flooded.
The rain began in the middle of the night and residents in several areas of the state woke up to find their homes flooded.
Reports reaching Neusroom confirmed that areas including Surulere, Ikeja, Oshodi, and Palmgroove on the mainland as well as Ikoyi, Lekki and Ajah on Lagos Island were affected by the flood.
Abeokuta Street, Palmgroove
Motorists and pedestrians were stranded because major roads like the Iyana-Oworonshoki link to the Third Mainland Bridge which connects the Lagos Mainland to the Island were flooded. Obafemi Awolowo Road in Ikeja, Apapa-Gbagada expressway and the Lagos-Ibadan highway were also flooded, causing traffic jams.
Videos sent to Neusroom showed the stranded vehicles and pedestrians at Iyana Oworo with several people claiming that they would not be able to reach their destinations on schedule.
“I had a recording around Cele and I just got here 10 minutes ago (about 2 hours later than intended). Everywhere on Ikorodu road is blocked, to and fro,” a show producer told Neusroom.
Another publication disclosed that motorists and commuters in Alagbado and Ifo were also stranded due to the flooding in the area. Residents in the area confirmed the flood to Neusroom, claiming that only people who left the area as early as 5 AM would have escaped it.
In the Mushin area of Lagos, a two-storey building on N0 12 Cameroon Street collapsed earlier today amid the heavy rainfall.
In a statement, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, permanent secretary at the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), said when the rescue team arrived at the scene, it discovered that the building was newly constructed.
Oke-Osanyintolu said the rescued persons — three females and four males — have been taken to the hospital for treatment.
State government reacts to Lagos Floods
In April, the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources embarked on an exercise to remove structures on the drainage systems to prevent perennial flooding in the areas. Contravening structures under the System 1 Drainage Channel Midstream (Odo Iya Alaro) Ojota and Ogudu were removed.
Tokunbo Wahab, the state commissioner for environment and water resources explained, “The enforcement exercise will address the issue of perennial flooding which has led to avoidable damage to properties and caused fatalities in some instances.”
The removal exercise, which followed the expiration of several served contravention notices on the property owners, was carried out by operatives of the Drainage Enforcement and Compliance Department with security backup from the Task Force on Special Offences and other agencies.
Reacting to Wednesday’s floods, Tokunbo Wahab disclosed that a team has been deployed to clear the “flash floods” in certain parts of Nigeria’s commercial capital.
An eyewitness who spoke to Neusroom confirmed that the Oshodi is now free but the service lane between Obanikoro and Palm Groove remains flooded at the time of this report.
This is a developing story
