ENVIRONMENT: Torrential Rains Wreak Havoc in Nigeria

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Apr 26 2003 (IPS) - This year’s torrential rains have wrecked havoc in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, affecting some of the city’s 10 million residents.

Meteorologists have forecast that the rains, which are often accompanied by heavy winds, will continue until August.

Francis Adefuye, of the department of meteorology in Lagos, said there were signs of abnormality – showing too much rain in the first quarter of the year.

”The rainfall, particularly in Lagos area, has surpassed the 100 millimetres average with 25 percent in general terms. What we have now is above 25 percent required volume of rainfall, which is quite abnormal,” he said.

The first rains came about two weeks ago as millions of citizens, residing in Lagos, got ready to elect their representatives to parliament. Other downpours followed, wreaking havoc on property and human lives, with most streets in Lagos virtually submerged by flood.

In several parts of the city, the heavy storms disrupted the already epileptic power supply as transformers and overhead cables were blown off. Roofs of many houses were also blown off, while some houses went down under the heavy pressure from flood that followed the rains.

Some people, caught unaware by the first rain had to sleep in their offices, while those who were already on the roads could not continue their journey home due to heavily flooded streets, which were knee-deep on some highways. Some had to spend the night in their vehicles. One motorist reportedly suffered heart attack and slumped on the steering in one of the traffic jams caused by the flood.

The greatest havoc, caused by the rains, was the collapse of a three-storey building in Orile-Iganmu, a suburb of Lagos. The building, which fell under the heavy impact of flood at night, trapped the occupants of the six flats, except one flat, whose occupants had travelled upcountry for the Easter holidays. Only two residents survived.

According to the Red Cross, the bodies of ten residents, who died inside the building, have been recovered.

When IPS visited the scene Thursday, some occupants were busy packing out for fear of another disaster as the rains continue. The flats, which were all new, were constructed on reclaimed marshy area.

In another incident, a teenage girl was killed in Mushin, another suburb of Lagos, when one side of the wall of a storey building collapsed on the bungalow she was living in with her parents. The girl was washing plates in the kitchen close to the side of the collapsed wall, after dinner, when the incident happened.

In other parts of the country, highways are littered with potholes as deep as craters – a result of heavy downpours in the past two weeks.

Bola Tinubu, who secured a second term in office as governor of Lagos State last week, has ordered the arrest of the landlord of the collapsed building. Most buildings in the suburbs of Lagos have no approved plans and some which have, received such approvals under questionable circumstances as landlords bribe unscrupulous officials for areas where such structures should not have been constructed.

Speaking shortly after his re-election, Tinubu said his priority was to tackle the flooding which is submerging Lagos. ”We shall control the flood as much as nature can allow us,” he said.

In 2001 Tinubu established ”The Drain Ducks Agency” to tackle the problem of blocked drainages and canals to allow for free flow of rain water to the canals and the lagoon.

The State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), part of the Ministry of Environment, was also activated to perform the duties of ensuring the clearing of garbage on the streets. Through the authority, the state government gave out the clearing of refuse from the streets to private disposal bodies.

The impact of the two bodies still remains to be felt as huge heaps of refuse dot major highways and drains, blocking the free flow of water.

”Go through any road in Lagos, even the trans-continental highway to Benin republic is not spared. Apart from potholes, garbage has taken over portions of the highway thereby disrupting free flow of traffic. It looks as if the garbage is part of the beautification project of the state government,” says Samuel Segun, who plies the highway daily.

He says the two firms, contracted to collect the refuse, had six months to clear the drains before the rains set in. "I don’t think they have done anything," he says. "That is why the flooding is so devastating".

The situation is even made worse by residents who litter the streets with all kinds of disused household items and motor parts.

”Tyres, plastic bags, and plastic bottles are dumped into the drains. When it rains, residents rush to pour their waste bins into the drains for rain water to move them on, but these items block the drains and cause flooding,” says Funmi Owoduni, a teacher in Lagos.

In 2000, the government bought two equipments, for 10 million U.S. dollars, to suck sand from drains. The first time the equipments went into use, they could not be used for sucking sand; they were instead sucking pieces of clothes, nylons and vegetables dumped into the drains, according to a LAWMA official.

The official, who refused to be named, has urged residents to be calm, as, he says, it will take time for the impacts of the equipments to be felt. "Remember that the network of drainage in the metropolis (about 150 kilometre-long canals) has not been cleared in the past two decades. It will take time to have every canal cleared of waste,” he says.

As more downpour is being expected between May and August, which is rainy season in Nigeria, many residents in flood-prone areas are moving to other zones that are less vulnerable to flooding.

Ogiadn Odeyemi, who lives in Orile-Iganmu, one of the most flood-prone areas, told IPS: ”I would have moved out of this area. But the house belongs to my father, and I cannot abandon it. Many tenants have already moved out of here”.