Two communities in Lagos State with similar tales of floods caused by erosion and resulting in loss of property worth millions of naira are crying for urgent intervention by state authorities, report KUNLE AKINRINADE & VICTORIA AMADI.
PENULTIMATE Tuesday was tough for residents of the Alagbado area of Lagos. At about noon, the sky opened up for a downpour that flooded the streets adjoining the Old Ota Road and overran buildings and drainage system.
But for Providence, a teenage girl in the area would have been swept away by the ravaging flood. It was said that the girl was pulled out of water by some young men around as water submerged buildings including makeshift shops and business outlets.
An eyewitness said: “The girl was running errands for her mother on Omisesan Street when the flood seized her leg and was sweeping her away.
“But some men dared the water and pulled her out before she could be submerged.
“A similar incident had occurred in the area a few days earlier when a flood resulting from heavy rain swept away a man that was returning home from an outing.”
A cross-section of residents of Omisesan Street lamented that the entire landscape of area was on the cusp of being destroyed by erosion, appealing to the state government to reconstruct the poorly constructed drainage in the neighbourhood.
They explained that the gully erosion had led to loss of lives and property running into millions of naira owing to poorly constructed and abandoned drainage.
According to the distraught residents, flood water passing through Saka, Owu, Emmanuel, Oloruntedo, Laccal, Adeoluwa, Malomo, and Soyinka streets flow through Omisesan Streets to a nearby river, thereby causing gully erosion in the community.
A resident identified simply as Ahmed described flooding as a perennial problem in the community and blamed the situation on the indifference of state authorities.
Ahmed said: “Flooding has become an annual problem in this community and it appears that we have been abandoned by the concerned authorities despite several cries for intervention to salvage the situation.”
Secretary of the community development association, Mr. Idowu Lasisi, said former Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration only constructed a drainage on one side of the street, leaving the other side unattended to and resulting in poor passage of water to the nearby Iro River.
He said: “The present drainage was constructed by ex-Governor Fashola’s administration.
“The construction company that handled the contract worked to an extent and stopped.
“We were thinking they would take it to Iro River but they stopped the work midway.
“We are pleading with the government to come back and reconstruct this road in Omisesan Street in Agbado-Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area of Alimosho Local Government.
“They built a reserve in the drainage, but whenever it rains heavily, the reserve overflows and floods the building opposite it, causing damages.”
Lasisi added that the situation had led to the relocation of many residents lately as floods continue to wreak havoc once it rains.
He said: “The Iro River is supposed to serve as a collection point for the flood coming from the main Ibari Road through Omisesan Street down to old Ota Road in Alagbado here.
“But the way the drainage in the street was constructed, water could not flow directly into the river but into the street thereby causing massive erosion.
“Property worth millions of naira were badly damaged. And whenever it rains, nobody dares stand on the street, otherwise the person might be carried away by flood.
“Residents are leaving this area because of that. Those who own houses here have no alternative.”
A landlord in the community, Kazeem Sunmonu, appealed to the relevant authorities to construct another drainage on the other side of the street, to enable easy passage of water.
Read Also: Ondo flood victims get relief materials
He said: “We are pleading to the government to build drainages on the two sides of the road so that the water that has been passing through one side, would be passing through two sides.
“There is a floating from the major road. When it rains heavily, the floating overflows thereby channeling water into the street.”
He added that efforts to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to their plight had yielded no result.
“We have made different efforts for the government to come to build the second one, all to no avail.
“We have written to the local government and other relevant authorities in Lagos State but we have not received any response,” he said.
A resident, Shola Odebunmi, said residents were relocating from the street, appealing to the state government to intervene in their plight.
He said: “I was born and brought up here. The last rain caused a lot of damage and gully erosion.
“No form of vehicle comes into this street anymore because of the bad road.
“Ironically, we have a local government chairman living next street to ours.
“He recently brought a heap of stones to fill the potholes, but when it rained, erosion washed the stones away, causing another damage.”
Like the residents of Alagbado, poor drainage construction has become the nemesis of Alade Close off Iju Road in the Fagba area of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos.
According to the residents, the drainage, which was constructed in 2011 by a construction company with the approval of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), was left uncompleted. It was also poorly constructed, thereby resulting in the washing away of the soil, a huge gorge of over 100 feet, and breakage of the half-constructed structure.
The worst affected are residents of Harmony Estate, Alex Kehinde Street, Bucknor Estate, Nelson Cole Avenue, and Alade Close 1 and 2.
Speaking with The Nation, some community leaders in the area appealed to the relevant authorities to rescue them from the perennial destruction of houses worth millions of naira around the area, noting that some buildings currently stand the risk of being submerged.
They also alleged that efforts made to draw the attention of the local government council to the menace proved abortive, as the council said it was beyond its power.
Chairman of the Community Development Association, Mr. Ganiyu Kasal, explained that some buildings had caved in to the gorge, adding that attempts to draw the attention of relevant authorities to their plight have yet not yielded fruits.
He said: “This drainage was constructed in 2011 during the the Fashola regime.
“They constructed the drainage to some length, then stopped halfway.
“They kept saying they would return to the site (to finish the job), but we didn’t see them.
“After a newspaper publication, they came and did a little work but did not complete it totally. About two weeks ago, the drainage started sinking.
“It is washing away buildings. A building close to it is sinking and the gorge is washing the street away.
“We wrote to our local government council but they said the matter was beyond them.
Expatiating further, Kasali said: “We have to start dumping refuse there to fill the hole up.
“A house has been pulled down by the drainage and the drainage is about pulling the closest house down.
“We are calling on the state and federal governments to come to our rescue because we don’t want this to affect more houses and even lives.
“The damage is coming inside the street and this is dangerously alarming.
“We have talked to the chairman of the local government and we have already written to the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources.
“The local government personnel said it was beyond their capacity.”
Lamenting the depth of the gorge, a resident of the community, Deji Oke, said the people had tried everything in their power to fill it in but to no avail.
He said: “When the construction company left the drainage halfway, we pleaded with them to complete the construction, but they didn’t.
“Members of the community, contributed money to fill the gorge with stone but the flood kept washing the soil away.
“When the construction firm came the second time, they didn’t complete it.
“We have written letters and sent a video of this place, yet nothing has been done.
“The gorge is getting worse.”
Another resident, Mr. Joseph Abogunde, said: “The way they built the drainage is not good at all. It shows incompetence and negligence.
“The constructors diverted the water from Fagba area, Iju Water Works Road and the surroundings to this drainage.
“We really need urgent help from respectful authorities. Lives are at stake.”