An early morning rain at Sango, Ijoko, Ijako in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, which occurred on Tuesday, resulted in a flash flood that submerged five vehicles and destroyed goods worth several millions of Naira.
BusinessDay reports that the rain which started around 6:00 am on Tuesday and resulted in a flash flood, which overflowed its pathway and flooded some portions of Lagos-Abeokuta road such as Sango roundabout, the base of Sango overhead bridge, Tipper Garage, Ijako, and Ijoko.
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It was gathered that almost all drainage systems and water pathways were blocked with refuse full of single-use plastics (styrofoam) thereby aggravating the intensity of the flash flood which submerged not only the vehicles but also goods such as bags of cement, bags of rice, and other wares running into several millions of Naira.
Speaking with BusinessDay on the losses recorded in the flash flood, Mufutau Akande, a commercial driver who shuttles Sango-Ota and Abeokuta daily, said that the early morning rain and flood caught them unawares as some vehicles were loading passengers for Abeokuta from Sango-Ota when the torrential rain started.
“Some of our (commercial) vehicles which used to carry passengers from Sango-Ota, under the overhead bridge to Abeokuta are submerged by the flood this morning. What we usually do on a daily is to park our vehicles along the road in anticipation of passengers.
“So, when passengers come, we load them in our vehicles either from Abeokuta – Lafenwa, Brewery-Olomore roundabout or from Ita-Oshin to Sango-Ota or from Sango-Ota – on the overhead bridge or under the bridge, we pick passengers daily, but this morning was different as some vehicles were flooded and we had to wait until the water subsided, but nobody was washed away, we thank God for that”, the driver said to BusinessDay.
Latifat Alowonle, an eye witness, who sells cement and other building materials at Sango, noted that some shops, especially those shops beside the bridge built on a water pathway and on a drainage system, were submerged by a flash flood as rice, vegetable oil, pasta, noodles, and other foodstuffs as well as cement loaded in different lock-up shops, were destroyed by the flood.
“Some of us have not come to shops when the rain started. We didn’t expect the rain at all, but it came and destroyed our goods.
“Some Ibo men and Yoruba women, who sell rice and foodstuffs, cement and other building materials like me are affected, but we have salvaged some goods when the rain and flood subsided”, Alowonle said.
But, when our Correspondent spoke with Ola Oresanya, Commissioner for Environment in Ogun State on the phone, he attributed the flash flood and attendant destruction to the sudden torrential rain which came unexpectedly on Tuesday morning.
Oresanya, said, “As I am talking to you, I am attending NiMet meeting, when we are done here, there will be a weather forecast from NiMet as regards what we should expect in terms of rainfall, flash flood, and coastal flooding.
“What happened in Ogun State this (Tuesday) morning was a flash flood; torrential rain is always followed by a flash flood which is a high precipitation within a short time.
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“The rain came earlier than expected. We expect rainfall in the next 2 – 3 weeks, but God says otherwise. When there is a flash flood, we expect our people to stay indoors and allow the flood to subside.
“Secondly, our people should not block pathways where this water will pass, before now we have been cleaning many of our drainage systems, but we will continue because it’s a continuous exercise.
“Thirdly, people should not dump refuse and build on water pathways because this can cause flood and if there is a flood lots of things and even humans will be affected. With the NiMet weather forecast, we shall know what to do to control this further and as a State to forestall the negative impacts of flash flood and coastal flooding.”
