Downpour sacks Lagos community

Odugbemi Oluwapelumi and Esther Adetayo

Residents and traders of Aboru, Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State, are lamenting the incessant floods caused by heavy rainfall in the area.

Lagos had consistently witnessed heavy downpour in different parts of the state that lasted for hours and caused traffic congestion.

The community was completely overtaken by floods, thereby preventing traders from displaying their wares.

Our reporters, who visited parts of the area, observed that several commercial buses broke down as a result of the flood, forcing the passengers to alight and push them off the road.

Lamenting the effects of the rainfall and flooding, a resident in the community, Mrs. Opatayo Racheal, said they have been experiencing flood in the area for the past 30 years.

She said this is caused by lack of proper drainage in the community.

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“We need proper drainage in Aboru to enable free flow of water when it rains. Though, the Chairman of Agbado-Oke-Odo Local Council Development Association visited our area and promised that something will be done soon,” she said.

A trader, simply identified as Iya Grace, said if proper drainage system was constructed, flooding would be a thing of the past. She lamented that flooding usually wreaks havoc and affect sales.

“I appeal to the state government to construct proper drainages in order to spare us from this situation. The flood is caused by the absence of suitable channels for free flow of water. When it rains, the expected customers would not patronise the traders,” she said.

A commercial motorcycle rider, who simply identified himself as Gabriel, blamed the indiscriminate erection of shops on culverts for the flooding, adding that wastes were also obstructing water channels from flowing thus leading to the blocked drainages and then flooding occurs .

He lamented that shops were always shut whenever it rained, adding that commercial motorcycle passengers would also not venture out thus affecting their business,” he said.