Fears of more sorrows spread as Lagos awaits more rains

One of the pathetic stories was that of  a motorcycle rider in Aboru near Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State, called  Baba Adija.  He was swept away by flood as he made frantic efforts to save his two children, a boy and a girl aged 14 and 15.Unfortunately he missed his steps. His story changed for the worse […]

One of the pathetic stories was that of  a motorcycle rider in Aboru near Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State, called  Baba Adija.  He was swept away by flood as he made frantic efforts to save his two children, a boy and a girl aged 14 and 15.Unfortunately he missed his steps. His story changed for the worse forever. Though the children were later rescued from drowning, Baba Adijat could not be saved.  His corpse is yet to be found.

In Ketu, a suburb of Lagos, seven corpses were found and handed over to relatives during the week. The bodies of other six victims at Agege area were identified earlier and taken away by their relatives for burial. That was the situation in Lagos as rain, which had hitherto become a blessing, turned to sorrow for many families and residents in Lagos areas, such as Victoria Island, Apapa, Ikoyi, Ijaiye road, Lagos abattior, Aboru community, Ajegunle, Ojota, Bariga, Akoka, Yaba, Mushin, Iyana-Ipaja

The scene at Panada area of Agege was like that of a refugee camp last Tuesday, 72 hours after the rain had stopped. Mattresses, upholstered chairs and other household effects were put outside to sun-dry in most of the houses in the slum neighbourhood. On somefun and Odejobi streets, among several others within the vicinity, were stretches of marsh interspersed with large ponds.

Adebayo Ajayi explained his plight thus: “The situation was so bad that my family and I could not sleep in our room up till the moment. We are still hanging around. For now, I sleep at my brother’s place at Oko-Oba.”

Adebayo said as a result of the situation, his wife and their four-year-old child had to relocate to a relative’s place at Mowe, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. He said before the flood could subside, residents of the house had to hire a water pumping machine to pump the water out, adding that the flood spoilt his table fan and CD player.

He is not yet sure it was time to move back into his room as he said he would still watch the weather for some days before taking a decision.

 

NIMET predicts more rains, not tsunami

Unfortunately, more rains are coming! According to the chief meteorologist, Central Forecasts Office of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Oshodi, Lagos, Abayomi Oyegoke, another rain is expected today but that it would not be as serious as last Sunday’s.

He said Lagos residents should be prepared for more rains.

Oyegoke said: “based on the experience of last Sunday and with what we are seeing coming this Sunday, the residents of Lagos should get themselves prepared so that it will not catch them unawares, as it was last Sunday. We are not saying that heavy rain will be falling only on Sunday’s because this is nature;  it comes when it will and nobody determines when it occurs and also, nobody can change nature. It’s just for us to be at alert.

On Tsunami speculations outbreak in Africa and the likelihood of Nigeria being affected, Oyegoke said, “Malabo is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and from the picture on our satellite screen here, Malabo is an island and the location of Malabo on the weather map 30.44 North of the equator, by the longitude is 80.27 East. The closeness of Malabo to the neighbouring towns or cities is Calabar, the location 4.50 North of the equator and longitudinally is 8.22 East, the distance to Malabo is not so much. By the time the alert came yesterday it was about 135.32 kilometer and if anything of Tsunami actually happened in Malabo, the alert we got was around 5pm on Thursday and between that time and this hour we are talking, 12 o’clock GMT and Nigeria is not flooded then it is not true. Tsunami is not a phenomenon that happens slowly because of the kind of speed it moves. So, if truly there was a tsunami in Malabo, by now Nigeria should have been crying of flood everywhere in the country especially the nearest neighbouring state, Calabar. But up till now after we have gone through our normal routing checking everywhere still remains calm exception of  little co-clouds that later develop to give just light showers  here and there and after we have gone through our wind regime, we have discovered that in the next two days there wouldn’t be any serious rain. Is not that rain will not fall especially at the coastal areas. Light showers will scatter here and there especially on Sunday when the people of Nigeria should prepare again for another heavy rains as it is shown on our systems here.

After we got the alert, I did a little work. We went into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website and nothing related to that was there and with our systems here and with what we are seeing here, I don’t see the reason why the country should be in panic now.”

Lagos begins enumeration of victims

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, has commenced the enumeration and identification of persons affected by floods in the state.  The General Manager/CEO of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the areas covered by the exercise include Odejobi and Arigbanla streets in Agege, as well as some communities around Jakande, Lekki.

He said the floods which resulted from the recent heavy downpour were receiving the urgent attention of LASEMA and other relevant institutions of the state government.

According to him, “LASEMA is working round the clock in the face of the challenge posed by the floods.  We are collaborating with the relevant ministries and agencies of government to mitigate the situation”.

While urging Lagosians to remain calm, the General Manager advised those severely affected to immediately contact the chairmen of their local council areas, who are the chairmen of the Local Emergency Management Committees earlier inaugurated by LASEMA.

Also, Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage Services in the Ministry of Environment, Engr. Muyideen Akinsanya, said based on the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) prediction on the rainfall in the country  this year that was released a couple of months ago which was duly studied and analysed by the state government revealed there will be heavy rainfall across the country, Lagos inclusive.

According to him, areas like Ikosi-Ketu, Mile 12, Agiliti, Thomas Laniyan Estate, Owode-Onirin and communities along Ikorodu where residents experienced heavy flooding last year will be prone to flooding again this year. Other areas include the stretch of the Oworonshoki–Apapa expressway that runs from Gbagada to Tin-Can Island, Mile 2, Ijeshatedo, Itire, Ilasamaja and Oshodi.

He noted that there will be flood in these areas and some others across the city, “because the capacity of most canals is not likely to contain the volume of run-off  water expected from the rainfall.”

The Permanent Secretary stressed that many of the channels in the metropolis have been cleared while maintenance schedule is also being pursued with vigour, adding that “government is capable of controlling the flood effectively.”

He blamed the excessive flood witnessed around Lagos in the past one week to the nonchalant attitude of residents to environmental sanitation including climate change around the world.