Residents in Lagos on Thursday morning witnessed an unusual heavy downpour owing to the several hours it lasted that started on Wednesday night, causing massive floods in many parts of the city
PHOTOS FROM THE FLOODING INCIDENT IN LAGOS
Sections of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway were cut off on both sides by the flood, leading to a gridlock.
Many road users were forced to return home or seek alternative routes while others remained at the spot, waiting for the flood to abate.
Seven-day rainfall
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) recently warned that residents in Lagos would soon experience a seven-day rainfall.
Abayomi Oyegoke of NIMET Central Forecast Unit, Oshodi, Lagos had said that a total of 570 mm of rainfall had been recorded in Lagos State between January and June.
He explained that the rains being experienced in state were the beginning of a seven-day rainfall.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that workers were stranded at bus-stops while others reported late at their offices because of the rain.
Many vehicles were trapped in the flood, causing the traffic to snarl up just as fares went up.
NAN also reported that most of the drains were blocked by refuse resulting in massive flooding of the roads.
At Iyana-Ipaja, the flooding was severe between Mosalashi Bus Stop and Egbeda, while the situation was also serious in Surulere, Ijesha, Ebute Meta, Lagos Island, Aboru, Ikeja, Ketu-Mile 12, Lekki-Ajah and the Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway.
On the Island, many residents were seen moving out their personal effects from homes on the Adeniji –Adele, Oyebanji and Freeman streets.
A civil servant, Mr Biola Ajose told NAN that several houses at Abesan, a Lagos suburb, were either flooded or submerged, adding that vehicular and human movements were also impeded.
“Vehicles and even pedestrians could not move as the roads and the drains were blocked. A few motorists, who dared to drive through the flood, were slowed down.
“Commercial buses and a few motorcyclists (okada) took advantage of the situation to increase fares,” he said.
A resident of Surulere, Mrs Nkiru Obiechina, said the early rain prevented her from going to her shop at Oshodi.
“Although, we have prayed for the rain and we thank God for it, it has disrupted socio-economic activities as it started before we woke up.
“Some sections of Lagos roads are usually impassable once it rains except the expressways. It is unfortunate that transporters seized the opportunity to hike fares,” she told NAN.
A housewife at Ebute Meta on the mainland lamented that the rain destroyed property in several houses in the area.
PHOTOS FROM THE FLOODING INCIDENT IN LAGOS
A motorist, who simply gave his name as Obinna, said he spent more than three hours in the traffic on the Lekki-Epe Expressway because of the downpour.
“I was trapped in the traffic as early as 8 a.m. and I did not get to my office until 11 a.m.,” he said.
Also, motorists, who plied Orile-Iganmu-Mile 2 Expressway, complained that the ongoing construction work on the road slowed down traffic lasting several hours.
“We usually use three lanes but with the rainfall, the road was narrowed down to just one lane causing serious traffic jam.
“We had to take a detour through Apapa to Ijora to link the mainland,” said Joseph Etuks, a banker.
NAN recalls that experts had warned that there would be more rainfall in 2011 than in the previous years.
Also, the Lagos State government had in May advised residents in flood-prone areas particularly in Agiliti and Agboyi-Ketu to relocate before the rains.
Source: http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/06/28/overnight-downpour-causes-flood-and-traffic-gridlock-in-lagos/
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