For residents of five streets in Aluminum Village, Dopemu, a Lagos suburb, rainfall is no blessing.
They are appealing to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to come to their rescue and help prevent further calamities and destruction of their belongings.
Worse-hit are Ifelodun, Salako, Bello Ajare, Olusesi and Bayo Ayeni streets. Each year, they gather for prayers, asking God to delay the rain a little bit. Reason: the earlier it comes, the graver the consequence. Such bitter day was last Friday, when the rain that pounded the state for over eight hours practically sacked them. But it was an opportunity for the Dopemu Community Development Association leadership to take Southwest Report round to see the extent of their plight.
The Secretary of the association, Mr Seyi Lasisi, said the agony has become a yearly occurrence as the residents run helter-skelter to salvage their lives and savings.
According to Lasisi, the community had been battling with this ugly situation in the past two decades and all the efforts by the CDA to put an end to the menace proved abortive.
Lack of drainage, he said, is the major cause of the flood. The small gutters in the area could not curtail the high volume of the flood coming from different areas, such as Agege and other parts of Dopemu,” he said.
What the area needed, Lasisi said, is a collector drain that could take the flood water away from the area into the nearby Valley Estate canal.
The absence of this, he said, has become a big headache to residents. It is usual for residents to bail water from their homes, while those who could not endure the strenuous exercise have to purchase pumping machine to get the job done. This has affected the values of properties in the area as many tenants have had to flee. Even landlords have had to abandon their properties and relocate to more comfortable parts of the state, Lasisi added.
He described the situation as worrisome and unbecoming of a state that prides itself as the “Centre of Excellence”.
Lasisi said the flood has paralysed economic growth of the area, adding that virtually all the cottage businesses that ought to have grown round the village have relocated to neighbouring communities because the area have become inaccessible.
The CDA secretary said the government has continued to give a cold shoulder to its numerous petitions.
He said: “It is sad that nothing has come out of the several petitions we had written to the governor and the Commissioner for the Environment concerning this situation and the urgent need to address it. Last year, our people jubilated when the government came and constructed drainage on one side of the road rather than addressing the challenge on both sides; the drainage has added rather than abate the problems of flooding in the area.”
Another resident, Mrs Beatrice Adigun, said she no longer saw the raining season as a period of blessing, as she had developed high blood pressure and usually developed headaches anytime she saw the clouds gathering.
Narrating her family’s ordeal, Mrs Adigun said her house, built over a decade ago is usually impassable anytime it rains. She said the floods have in times past led to loss of lives.
According to her, residents go through hell during any downpour saying atimes, the flood at her shop during each rainfall measures above three feet.
Mrs Adigun said many of her belongings, including her children’s relevant academic documents had been damaged because of the flood.
Mrs Adigun appealed to the Lagos State government to come to the aid of residents, saying: “enough is enough of this yearly suffering.”
An aluminium fabricator, Mr Lawal Segun, also said rain almost rendered them redundant as they had lost huge business prospects.
According to him, the little income they made to take care of their families is now diverted to repair their shops and fabricate machine at the end of each rainfall.
“The situation is so bad that we have to abandon our shops anytime it rains. Infact, we usually pray for the rain not to meet us in the shop as we would be trapped indoor and unable to leave as the entire area, including our shops would be flooded.
“The government should please come and demolish all the illegal construction that are disturbing the free-flow of the erosion so that we won’t experience this kind of disaster anymore,” he said.
