Residents use canoes as flood takes over Lagos community – TheNigerialawyer

Residents of Isheri North Government Reserved Area, also known
as the Isheri North Residential Scheme, Lagos State, are currently
lamenting the flooding of the area, located along the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, Punch reports.

The residents appealed to the state government to come to their
aid, stating that since the flooding started in late August, many
residents had been forced to leave their homes, while those
remaining in the estate now use canoes to move to and fro their
homes.

When our correspondent visited the estate on Thursday, floods
could be seen taking over most homes and roads, with cars abandoned
on the road and some residents forced to wade through the
floodwaters.

A building materials dealer who owns a shop around the area, Mr
Oluwaseun Onifade, lamented that this year’s flooding was more
severe than the ones which occurred in the past five years.

Decrying that the situation was affecting his business, the
resident appealed to the Lagos State Government to come to their
aid.

He said, “The situation is affecting my business as a supplier
of building materials. There are some estates we cannot deliver
goods to because everywhere is flooded.

“In a week, we usually sell between 300 bags and a truckload of
cement but throughout this week, we’ve been unable to sell 50 bags.
You can’t enter the estate even if we have orders. Canoes are used
in some places.”

Our correspondent also saw as some vehicles that broke down in
the flood were being towed out of the estate, while some residents
could be seen moving out.

Another resident, Mrs Bunmi Awosanya, said due to the flooding,
she and her family had vacated their house on Saturday.

“We have moved out of our home, the situation is worse than
expected. We had to abandon everything in the home – furniture,
electronics and other expensive items.

“Right now, we have run for our dear lives. Every room in our
home is flooded. Our street in the estate is flooded. We were
making use of canoe but the situation has gone beyond using canoes
now,” she said.

It was also gathered that some residents who have vacated the
estate reported seeing reptiles such as snakes in the flood that
took over their homes.

One of the residents, Mr Yinka Olumuyiwa, also vacated the
estate on Saturday, saying he was tired of the situation.

Olumuyiwa said, “My vehicle broke down after driving it through
the flood. As you can see today (Saturday), the flood has also
taken over the major road in the estate.

“I have been using a canoe to enter my home but my home is now
flooded, so my family and me have vacated to a friend’s place until
when the floods subside.”

Speaking to our correspondent, the Estate Manager of the Isheri
North GRA, Mr Martins Badejo, decried that despite writing letters
to the Lagos State Government to come to their aid, nothing had
been done to assist them.

Badejo attributed the flooding of the 300-home estate to the
overflowing of the Ogun River as a result of the opening of the
Abeokuta Dam in Ogun State and the Asejire Dam in Osun State.

He said because the estate was about 0.9m above sea level, the
area had always become prone to flooding every year the dams were
opened. He said this year’s flooding was the worst residents had
witnessed.

He said, “Everywhere is flooded. We have over 300 buildings,
including uncompleted ones in the estate. At areas in the estate
where floods have not affected, the drainage is already filled up
and we are expecting them to be flooded too any moment from
now.

“Many residents have been displaced; we have those who have
moved out of their houses for almost a month and right now, we have
deployed three canoes in some parts of the estate to carry
residents who are still around in and out of their homes to the
major road. The situation is depressing.”

Badejo said apart from the displacement of residents, the floods
also constituted health hazards because the waters were acidic and
salty, lamenting that residents’ cars were breaking down after
coming out of the waters.

“We’ve been having this bad experience in the past three weeks.
It’s a sad situation and we need government’s intervention
urgently. We appeal to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to come to our
aid,” he said.

The estate manager said although the residents were erecting an
embankment (retaining wall) at the end of the Ogun River to fend
off the waters, the project had stalled due to limited
resources.

Badejo also said residents had dredged a 2.5km canal in the
estate and raised the drainage by 12 inches. Despite all these, he
lamented that the problem had not been totally resolved, noting
that some residents had been forced to sell their land and houses
in the estate.

“At the end of the day, the buyers of such land and buildings
have also regretted it and got frustrated. There are many abandoned
houses. Sometimes, some landowners want to start building but then
the floods will come and they will get discouraged.

“At one of the blocks, a house has been completed and furnished
but the owner cannot move in because of floods. It is saddening,”
he said.

The residents called for government’s involvement in the
dredging of the Ogun River from Abeokuta and the construction of an
embankment or sand dunes along the river bank to prevent flooding
in future.

The Director of Services, Ogun-Osun River Basin Authority, Mr
Femi Dokunmu, said the flooding in the area was because of heavy
rainfall this year, necessitating the release of water from the
Oyan Dam.

He said any year that heavy rainfall produced a large volume of
water in the dam, excess volume of water had to be released to go
down the Ogun River.

He said residents of the area would notice they didn’t
experience flooding in the past six years because rainfall was not
heavy during those years, unlike this year.

Dokunmu stated, “Where they built their houses is a flood plain,
meaning no amount of water released from the Oyan Dam into the Ogun
River would go above places that are not flood plains.

“When there is heavy rainfall and much water is flowing into our
reservoir, we have to release it so that the dam will not get
damaged. It is the rainfall in the northern parts of Ogun State
that is responsible for the situation.”

Asked if an alert was issued to the residents that the dam would
be opened because of heavy rainfall, Dokunmu replied, “They should
simply understand they are living along the flood plain. If there
is heavy rainfall in a year, they should get ready for flooding
whether we release water from the dam or not.”

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