Lekki threatened as Alpha Beach overflows (See Photos)

The Atlantic Ocean overflowed its banks at the Alpha Beach area today leaving residents of Lekki in a state of panic.Reports say the flooding was aggravated due to the absence of proper drainage in the area around Ocean View Estate which suffered much of the flooding.

Residents complain that the disaster is becoming a yearly occurrence with no hope of respite.People living around Okun Alfa area of Lekki have their houses submerged in water with properties worth millions of naira destroyed due to the flooding. More important is the health implications of the flooding with residents fearing a full blown epidemic.

According to blogger, Linda Ikeji, “The place is a mess right now. The sea is surging, everywhere is flooded and due to lack of drainage the waters not flowing out and people can no longer go there to have fun. This happens yearly but nothing is being done about it. Is there anything the government can do about it though?”

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Flood: Task force demolishes 100 houses

About 100 houses and shanties on water channels in Agege area of Lagos State, were, yesterday demolished by Lagos State Task Force on Environment to give way for the reconstruction of canal in the affected areas.

Governor Babatunde Fashola had, on July 11, 2011, during an on-the-spot-assessment of areas devastated by flood of July 10 heavy rainfall, ordered the demolition of all structures built on drainage, which was the major cause of the flood.

The demolition exercise, which started at 7 a.m, followed earlier notice to residents of Odejobi Street in Agege Local Government Area to vacate their houses before a specified time. The affected residents included Odejobi and abattoir in Agege council.

When Vanguard visited the area, yesterday, some of the residents were seen in a last minute move, packing their property to their new locations while others lamented that they had nowhere to go.

Speaking to newsmen, a town planner, Mr Adekunle Rufai of the state Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, who led the demolition team, said the exercise was necessary to protect lives as well as provide better environment for the people. He said: “Some of the identified distressed buildings were also demolished. 

The canal project will stretch from Odejobi to Alfa Nla in Orile Agege council. I can assure you that at the completion of the drainage project in this area, the problem of flooding will be a thing of the past.

Also speaking, Chairman of Lagos State Task Force, Mr. Bayo Sulaiman, said the residents had been given enough notice to vacate the affected houses. He noted that not all the houses on the street would be demolished, He said: “The ones to be demolished are the ones obstructing the extension of the canal.”

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Lagos flood: ACN slams PDP over call for Fashola’s resignation

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  for asking Gov. Babatunde Fashola to resign over the recent flooding in the state, describing the call as a failed attempt to make political capital out of an unfortunate situation.

In a statement, Friday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the government of Lagos state was highly proactive and responsive over the flooding, hence it deserves commendation rather than condemnation.

It said if PDP’s warped logic in calling for Gov. Fashola’s resignation were to be extended, then President Goodluck Jonathan should by now have resigned from office over the worsening insecurity in the land, especially from the rampaging Boko Haram; over the devastating kerosene scarcity for which his government has no clue; over the skyrocketing cost of diesel and the ballooning exchange rate for the Naira, not to talk of the worsening state of infrastructure.

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Tsunami in Lagos - FG allays fears

The federal Government has allayed fears of a tsunami hitting the country, following reports that Malabo, the Equatorial Guinean capital, was hit by the phenomenon.

This came as Lagos State government assured residents of its preparedness to curtail the negative consequences of a tsunami should it occur.

However, an environmentalist, Engr. Chike Chikwendu, ruled out the possibility of Nigeria being struck by a tsunami, saying if it had hit Malabo, it would have struck the country’s coastline, including Lagos, within 10 minutes.

Head, Public Relations of Nigerian Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Yushau Shuaib, who responded to enquiries in respect of the claim that a 20-metre high tide was heading towards the coast of Lagos, Lome and Accra, following an offshore quake in Malabo, assured that there was currently no cause for alarm.

Shuaib, however, said while NEMA had not been able to authenticate the claim contained in the report, after intensified efforts to trace its source and veracity or otherwise, the agency was not taking chances.

He said the agency had reached out to its sister agencies in the country, including the Red Cross, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Federal Fire Service, Civil Defence Corps and other relevant agencies, to be on the alert in the event that the speculation turned out to be true.

Shuaibu said if that should be the case, NEMA would possibly be counting on the support of the United Nations in its disaster response and management.

This is against the backdrop of an assurance to that effect by the Under-Secretary General of the UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Baroness Valerie Amos, during her recent visit to Nigeria.

Lagos assures residents

Reacting on behalf of Lagos State government, General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency LASEMA, Dr. Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, assured residents of the state that the government was prepared for any eventuality concerning the tsunami in Malabo.

He said: “We are aware of the Tsunami and I want to assure you that my agency and the state government are ready to respond quickly to any emergency to mitigate any negative effect thereof.”

He noted that Lagos had always been ready for any emergency situation to curtail its attendant effect.

However, effort to get the reaction of the state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, was unsuccessful as his mobile phone number was unavailable at press time.

But an environmentalist, Chike Chikwendu, debunked the news that a tsunami was about to hit Lagos but described the information as very disturbing.

“It is a very disturbing news; that would mean the end of this country,” Chikwendu reacted yesterday.

But he was quick to point out that the story might not be true after-all, adding that the Tsunami would have struck Lagos by now, considering the speed with which it travels.

He said: “Malabo to Lagos is quite close and it won’t take up to 10 minutes for the tsunami to reach here. Although I am not a tsunami expert, but I know that it (tsunami) travels about 10 kilometres per second.

“If the news is true, it would have reached here by now,” Engr Chikwendu, who is the Secretary of Friends of the Environment, FOTE, said.

Efforts to reach the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research for their comments proved abortive.

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Flood in Lagos: No tolerance for building on drainage channels -Gov Fashola

For the second day running, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), on Tuesday, undertook a tour of flood affected areas in parts of the state as a result of last Sunday’s heavy rain, saying government would identify and remove all obstructions to drainage channels in the state.

Governor Fashola, who inspected drainage systems in Gbagada, Somolu, Iganmu and parts of Surulere, said his administration would no longer tolerate the construction of structures or any other form of human intervention on established drainage and flood channels in the state adding that enforcement would be stepped up immediately.

Speaking particularly on the siting of building on Soluyi drainage channel in Gbagada, Governor Fashola noted, “the channels are there and they are working. But these flood mishaps are largely due to human intervention and obstruction of the channels either by building on them or by blocking them with refuse or other items of such nature.

“We were just told by the Permanent Secretary (Drainage) that we are standing on a drainage channel, a channel that flows into Odo Iya Alaro River; that drains Gbagada and Soluyi. Now, this sand-filled place was not here two months ago when the permanent secretary and his team were here. Now they have sand-filled the water path; you and I are standing on it because people want to build houses,” the Governor said.

Pointing out other structures such as fence and a building which were not there when the permanent secretary and his team visited the place two months ago, Governor Fashola declared, “now, this we will not tolerate. We are coming back here and the people of Soluyi must take note that we will be back here to re-establish this canal.

“When nature takes its course as a result of human action, people’s lives are disturbed and it leads to anguish, but we are the cause. This is the time we must stop people from playing games and putting other people’s lives at risk.”

Governor Fashola assured that contractors were working on the different drainage systems across the state to re-establish the canal lines so that there would be free flow of water during the rains adding that there was need for more dredging of the waterways which, according to him, had become heavily silted, in order to make them deeper and increase their capacity to hold water in bigger tranches and give more efficiency to the system.

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Lagos flood kills 25

THE pain inflicted on Lagosians by the torrential downpour last Sunday bit harder, yesterday, when 25 corpses were recovered including those of 11 children.

Some of those who died included occupants of a Toyota saloon car who were trying to maneouvre through the flood and ended up in a ditch. At the time of this report, several families were still looking for their relations and loved ones who have not been either seen or heard from since the rains stopped.

The corpses were recovered from two canals at Dopemu and Aboru, in old Alimosho Local Government Area and Agbado-Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, LCDA, among other areas , even as property worth several billions of Naira were destroyed.

State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, who led a team of government officials, including the commissioner for environment, Mr. Tunji Bello and his Transport counterpart, Kayode Opeifa,  to assess the level of devastation by the flood which was the worst to hit the state in recent times, however, assured that his administration would do everything within its power to alleviate the plight of the residents.

Most of the residents who lamented their ordeal at various spots during the inspection, appealed to the Governor to come to their rescue, because, according to them, they have lost their life savings to the flood with nowhere to relocate to.

Some of the worst-hit areas which Fashola inspected included: Mobil Filling Station, Ogba, where the fence of a company collapsed due to flood, Odejobi Street off Iju Road Agege, Abattoir canal in Orile-Agege Local Government Area, Abeokuta – Lagos Expressway failed portion of the road at Obadeyi Busstop, and Aboru canal, at Iyana-Ipaja end of Abeokuta-Lagos Expressway among others.

The flood also affected high brow areas including Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Apapa where property like vehicles, office equipment and house hold property were destroyed.

Disruption of transmission

The premises of Silver-Bird Communications, Lekki in Lagos Island and Channels Television, Isheri North, along Lagos Ibadan Expressway were submerged by the flood disrupting transmission temporary.

A source told Vanguard that in the early hours of Monday when the flood had receded, three dead bodies suspected to have  drowned as a result of the previous day’s rainfall were removed at  Aboru community, Agbado-Okeodo LCDA.

An eyewitness and a resident of the area, Mr. Kasali Akinwale said, “the incident occurred on Sunday when a Toyota car was manoeuvering through the flood, but unknown to the driver, he ran into a ditch and drowned with other occupants of the vehicle.”

When contacted on the incident, the Vice Chairman of the Council, Mr Austin Arogun said some people died because they could not distinguish between the roads and the drainage channels already covered by the flood.

He also attributed the high death toll to what he described as ‘’the unnecessary exposure of  people to the canal which is still under construction without any barrier or warning signals’’.


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Lagos flood: Fashola declares public holiday for Lagos schools

Sunday’s heavy rainfall, which crippled Lagos State, has forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to declare a public holiday for all public and private schools in the state.

Vehicular and human movements, including commercial activities in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub were paralysed.

The rain, which started at about 5am in most parts of the state, lasted till late into the night, flooding homes and roads across the state.

The roads were rendered impassable, while residents in some areas struggled to salvage their household items from the flood. In Jakande Estate, flood swept cars and buses.

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