Flooding: Economic activities paralysed as nature empties its bowel in Lagos

Economic activities were paralysed on Thursday in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, as nature in its fury emptied its bowel in what was clearly a torrential down-pour, causing massive flooding in many parts of the sprawling city.

The early morning rain that continued till late afternoon, left many homes and  roads flooded, making movement difficult and impossible in some locations. The rain which started from the previous day, Wednesday, brought untold hardship to Lagos residents .

Though both the mainland and island neighbourhoods in the state were affected, the island was worse off. In Lekki, for instance, almost the entire length of Admiralty Way was heavily flooded causing a serious slow vehicular movement. It was the same story in other streets. VGC was also flooded.

The Thursday morning experience belies claims by the Lagos State government that much was being done to contain the expected flooding that would result from the predicted 240 days of rainfall in the state.

“The forecast is 240 days of rainfall  for Lagos;  we are aware of it and we are working very hard on that. As the Special Adviser to the Governor on Drainage and Water Resource, I can assure you that we have been dealing with the canals. As I speak to you now, we have been dealing with the tertiary drains, primary drains and secondary drains,” said  Joe Igbokwe in Lagos recently.

Igbokwe who was a guest speaker at a Webinar on the impact of the predicted 240 days of rainfall on real estate hosted by Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos Branch, admitted that it was the duty of government to take water away from the environment.

“But don’t forget that Lagos is a coastal area;  we are having issues and some people are building on the channel, some people have made these channels where they dump their dirt. They have built so close to the setbacks that you cannot make way for water to go away,” he lamented

In Ikoyi, there was very slow movement of vehicles along Orsbone Road which was heavily flooded. It was the same story on Kingsway Road up to Falomo Bridge. Awolowo Road was also flooded, causing slow movement.

On the mainland, Ikeja was a sad story, especially from Ikeja Under Bridge down to Anifowose area. It was the same sad experience in Agege, Apapa GRA, Surulere,  Amuwo Odofin, and other locations.

“It took me nearly three hours to come to Alausa, Ikeja for a stakeholders meeting on Lekki Regional Roads,” a resident who lives in Lekki Phase 1 told BusinessDay on phone, noting that it has always been bad in that axis whenever it rained, but it had never been as bad as it was this Thursday.

Many transporters abandoned their vehicles and remained at home to avoid breakdowns under the rain. This worsened the experiences of commuters, especially office workers who had to be in office.

The flood water also swept some debris in its path, causing some drains and drainage channels to become blocked. Residents of Ijesha in Surulere were seen dealing with this even as the flood continued to frustrate their efforts on the street connecting the area to Cele Bridge on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway