Eid El Kabir holiday on Tuesday September 13 was marred by the torrential rainfall and the flash flooding recorded in parts of Osogbo that fateful day.
Actually, it was the culmination of the downpour that had commenced few days earlier in fits and spasms of drizzles and short bursts of heavy rain interspersed with occasional deceptive sunshine lasting for few minutes, that soon gave way to clouds and then rain.
However, after a scorching noonday sun gave the false impression of a hot day, the sun soon retreated as the cloud spread its dark blanket over the sky, and for four hours or thereabout, it rained heavily and non-stop with increasing intensity. The aftermath was the flash flooding recorded in some parts of the capital city like Rasco, Gbonmi, Oke Onitea and Testing Ground. As is the nature of flash floods, the water receded about two hours after the rain. This regrettably was not until after wreaking havoc. At Oke-Onitea, a middle-aged man, Elder Ebenezer Olabode, was swept away by the monstrous water. This, according to The Nation and other media accounts, was due to his insistence on wading through the water with his car, against all entreaties to turn back, before running into a ditch, and in the effort to escape from his vehicle, was washed away by the waters. Well, the circumstances of his death are academic now. Every life is precious. May God grant his family the fortitude to bear the loss and repose his soul.
Many property (and thankfully no lives) were lost at other places that witnessed the flash flood, especially at Rasco and Gbonmi.
However, the torrential rain of Tuesday September 13, as terrifying as it sounds, was only partly responsible for the flood. Before that Tuesday, Asa Dam in Kwara State had opened its valves which water flowed into Eko Ende and Eko Ajala in Ifelodun Local Government before emptying into Owala Dam in Okinni, in Egbedore Local Government, all in Osun. When Owala could not hold the water, it was then opened to Osogbo waterways. The water from Owala Dam had not receded before the heavens opened and it was the combination of the two waters that overwhelmed the drainage system in Osogbo and caused the flooding.
Rain is one of the acts of God that humans have little or no control over beyond anticipating its consequences and evacuating humans and valuables on the path of the flood it brings. For instance, Lagos and parts of Ogun, being below sea level, is beyond question they will experience flooding every year during the raining season.
Even advanced countries are not spared the impact of flooding. I shudder to remember the 2005 Hurricane Katrina which submerged not less than 80 per cent of New Orleans with water as high as 15 metres and which killed nearly 1,500 people. This was after more than 90 per cent of the city had been evacuated before the water came.
In 2013, more than 100,000 people were displaced in Europe when the Elbe River overflowed its bank after heavy rainfall. The New York Times also reported on June 2 this year that following heavy downpour, flooding surged through Europe in which thousands were displaced and not less than nine persons killed between France and Germany.
But the flash flood in Osogbo could have been worse. Before the coming of the Aregbesola administration, flooding in Osogbo and other parts of the state was an annual ritual. But the administration has since 2011 been dredging and desilting the rivers, streams, rivulets and waterways in the state.
The continuous effort had seen the government clear a cumulative total of 270 kilometres of waterways and removed 4.3 million metric tonnes of sand and debris so far. This also includes clearing gutters and road islands of sand and particles. The project has so far cost the government N2.6 billion of its meagre resources, out of which N1.2 billion is still owed contractors.
The years 2011 and 2013 were particularly eventful in that not a single incident of flooding was recorded in Osun even when Oyo, Ogun and Lagos States had the worst flooding in recent times. Even the heavy rains that had brought serious flooding to Ogun and Lagos states earlier this year had spared Osun and the residents of the flood prone areas in Osogbo had taken it for granted before Tuesday’s deluge.
The government’s response to flooding has not been restricted to just clearing waterways. As part of the general environmental and urban renewal policy of the state, some buildings on waterways have been taken out. Others were earmarked for same. The lining of the waterways is also in the works. This is estimated to cost N44 billion. It is my sincere hope that the Federal Government will come to the aid of the state on this.
Beyond remedial measures, we need also to look at the man-made aspect of the tragedy. Dumping refuse on waterways, stacking building materials, especially sand, and erecting buildings on waterways and floodplains are clear invitation to flooding. Flood will naturally occur when there is obstruction to free flow of water.
From the pictures – motion and still – projected in the media, it is evident that all the buildings flooded, especially at Rasco and Gbonmi in Osogbo were either built on flood plain or too close to the bank of moving waters. This is the fruit of the physical planning failure of the past. We won’t be talking of flooding of houses and destruction of property if the regulation on planning had been followed. The government is deemed to be wiser than the people and should save them from their self-destructive acts. Therefore, it must summon the political will to do the needful once and for all and prevent future occurrence.
While we are still grappling with the aftermath of the flash flood, it is most disheartening that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) went to town to celebrate the disaster in a ‘we-now-have-something-against-Aregbesola’ false triumphalism. What kind of people make political capital out of a natural disaster that befell the people? In civilised societies, politics are put aside and everyone begins to lend a helping hand.
Then they falsely allege, as is their usual practice, that the state government collected ecological funds from the Federal Government and misappropriated it. But the truth is that the Aregbesola’s administration never got a dime of ecological funds from the PDP Federal Government in its nearly six years. As things stand, the N12 billion outstanding ecological funds owed Osun has received approval for payment from the Buhari administration, but this is yet to be cash backed.
I will like to appeal again to the Federal Government to release this sum to the state, for it to be able to pay its contractors and continue the good works it has done so far. As we speak, earth moving machines have been deployed to the waterways and clearing the sand and other materials impeding free flow of water.
The flood notwithstanding, environmental sanitation and flood control has been one of the success stories of the Aregbesola administration.
