For the umpteenth time, Lagosians groaned and moaned as flood brought the city to a halt yesterday after a heavy downpour.
Bitter Lagosians queried why the celebrated capacity of the state government to extract taxes, levies, fines and penalties from its residents is not matched with service to the tax payers.
Yesterday�s rain, which measured 84mm according to the Meteorological Department, was the second highest this year, 2mm lower than what was recorded on June 27.
However, yesterday�s flooding is said to be the worst since 2004, despite the promises by the state government in January that this year would witness a significant improvement.
The state government has often blamed the flooding on blocked drainages and the coastal nature of the state.
Recently, the Commissioner for the Environment, Alhaji Muiz Banire, had said that there was no permanent solution to the flooding scourge because of topography of the state, maintaining that �we have to live with it�.
Yesterday, he told THISDAY that it was �a flash flood, not flood in the technical sense, as it kept on moving. In fact, the last stretch left by 1.30pm�.
But environmental experts believe that apart from the problem of blocked drainages, the rainfall this year has been on the high side.
They are also of the opinion that the free flow of water has been hampered by the failure of councils to take care of �tertiary drainages� which empty into the primary drainages which eventually empty into the lagoon.
The state government is said to have devoted about N6 billion to addressing flooding in the state this year � the highest budget ever � but the concentration on primary drainages has been counterproductive, according to Mr. Bode Yesufu, an engineer.
�For as long as the canals and other tertiary drainages are not well taken care of day-in, day-out, we will continue to suffer flooding problems,� he said.
The latest heavy rain, which started Monday midnight and lasted till well past noon yesterday, caused flood everywhere, literally forcing millions of people to stay indoors and disrupting economic activities.
Many major roads in the city were impassable as a result of the heavy flooding which made life impossible for vehicles and pedestrians.
Many commuters trekked to their destinations, while the frustrated ones returned to their homes as the traffic situation scared away many commercial vehicle operators.
A few commercial vehicles which defied the rain increased their fares by between 60-100 per cent.
Houses and vehicles were submerged at Surulere, Iyana-Ipaja, Orile Iganmu, Ijora, Idi-Araba, Ebute-Meta, Ajegunle, Lagos Island, Mushin, Apapa and Ikorodu.
Affected families were seen scooping water out of their houses. As usual, some youths cashed in on the situation to make brisk business by carrying commuters across the flood on their backs.
The heavy rainfall caused the collapse of the fence of the Lagos Office of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and that of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Training Centre in Ikeja.
Commuters said that the situation was exacerbated by bad roads, blocked and inadequate drainages, drivers’ unruly behaviour and the location of the state which is generally below the sea level.
Experts also cited dredging and sand filling activities in many coastal areas of the state as compounding flooding and traffic situation.
A civil servant, Mrs. Mary Akinloye, said she trekked from Alakija bus stop to Mazamaza bus stop both on the Badagry expressway, a three-kilometre distance.
�When I later got a bus, we could not pass through Apapa-Oshodi road because of the flood. The bus driver paid N200 to some youths to direct him to avoid the gutters,� she said.
A hair dresser, Mrs. Naomi Chamberlin, who was scooping water from her shop at Apapa, appealed to the state government to improve the drainage system.
�This is what we go through every year. Today’s is however, exceptional,� she said.
However, the worst hit roads were Ikorodu-Lagos, Apapa-Oshodi, Badagry-Mile 2, Iju Water Works and Surulere roads such as Adeniran Ogunsanya, Bode Thomas and Ogunlana Drive roads.
Others are Lekki-Victoria Island, Ijora Olopa-Apapa, Abule-Egba, Alagbado, Idi-Araba, Ikeja-Maryland, Okota and part of Festac extension and Kirikiri Industrial estate, among others.
Many workers and business people spent half of the day on the road. According to Mr. Oti Eze, a senior officer in one of the banks at Apapa, �I left home at about 7.30am, but got to the office at about 11.30pm.�
But Alhaji Yari, a truck transporter who resides at Olodi-Apapa, said he could not observe early morning prayers at the Arewa Mosque.
�As at 5.00am when we went out to observe our prayers, the whole mosque was flooded such that we couldn�t even enter,� he said.
Source: This Day