3 days after De Renaissance Patriots’ alarm, heavy rainfall floods Lagos roads, disrupts movement

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

An early Wednesday morning heavy rainfall has flooded many parts of Lagos, making it difficult for commuters to move to their destinations.

Lagos residents barely woke up from sleep when the rain started to pour in torrents
disrupting daily activities and flooding the roads with many workers in the nation’s largest economy having to struggle to reach their respective workplaces.

An on-the-spot check revealed that many, who defied the rain and left their homes with the hope of getting to their places of work, were seen stranded at different bus stops while trying to commute in the city.

Motorists have to spend hours on the road coming through Alapere to the Third Mainland Bridge.

Also heavily flooded was the Iyana, Oworo-Olopomeji areas leading to the Third Mainland Bridge and Lagos Island were completely flooded Wednesday morning, causing heavy traffic that extended to Alapere.

The downpour caused a tree to fall around Airport U-turn in Oshodi but personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) were promptly on hand to clear the fallen tree from the road thus facilitating traffic flow and ensuring public safety.

The DEFENDER reports that the prompt intervention of the LASTMA officials enabled the restoration of vehicular movement, mitigating potential congestion and hazards in the area.

Reacting to the flood in a post on his X handle, the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said that a team from the ministry had been deployed to monitor and clear the flash flood at the Olopomeji section of Iyana Oworo.

Wahab, who thanked motorists for their patience and understanding, noted that the road was now free from rainwater as at the time of filing this report.

This was happening barely three days after the Lagos State socio-cultural organisation established to lead a better state for the indigenes, De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, in a statement title, “If there is government in Lagos let them act on our environmental challenges now before it’s too late”.

In a statement joined by the Foundation’s President Adelani Adeniji-Adele and Secretary General Yomi Tokosi, it said, “The rains started its annual rituals, flooding is once again rearing its head especially in Lagos Isan and some other parts of the state, noticeably Lekki Phase I. The perennial all-year flooding in Lagos Island around Ojo/Anikantamo axis has not receded. We ask the Lagos State Government what exactly are they doing to resolve this matter of flooding and drainage blockade (seriously) for once?”

The Lagos natives, whose questions to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on demolition of Adeniji-Adele Estate Phase II continued to be unanswered despite evidence he received the later couriered to his office many week ago, said, “We ask the government to save the loss off our beloved ‘homeland’, Lagos Island our place of birth, of inestimate values and memories, a place demanding the goodwill from governments across the globe from ‘sinking’ if a permanent solutions is not found.

“We write, knowing fully well that there existed natural causes like the flat terrain of the area but more importantly human interventions in the area arising from the earlier reclamation efforts around the Island, construction of the Third Mainland Bridge and the Adeniji-Adele Road.

“It is equally disarming that with all these obvious disadvantages, the construction of the Ilubirin Housing Scheme was allowed to happen without giving thoughts to its vast impact on the environment or at least initiating adequate methods to address issues arising.

“As it is here and in some other areas of the state including the Lekki/Ajah axis, unmitigated reclamation of land without a reclamation policy and adequate policy thrusts remain condemnable and it is another factor responsible for the problems.

“The signs are not good and inspite the availability of solutions within the ambit of government, our people are allowed to continue to witness the shame of impending environmental disaster,” De Renaissance said in the state dated Monday July 1, 2024.