Source: http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/06/28/overnight-downpour-causes-flood-and-traffic-gridlock-in-lagos/
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
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.
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.