AS
predicted by meteorologists, many coastal and inland cities across the
country continued to experience heavy rains yesterday. In Lagos, even
areas that had previously not experienced flooding were not spared, with
residents in many parts of the city like Surulere, Ikorodu Road,
Ejigbo, Lagos Island and Ajah gasping for breath due to flooding.
People who had appointments either failed to keep them or had them postponed on account of the gridlock on major roads including Oshodi/Apapa Expressway, Mile Two/Agbara, Isolo-Ejigbo-Ikotun Road, the Lagos –Abeokuta expressway and major roads in Victoria Island.
It took about two hours after it started, that yesterday morning’s rain, somewhat eased in intensity and a tired Gaji Ayawanle and his wife, Kike, were able to rest. They had been battling to keep the floodwater that had invaded their ground-floor home in Orilowo Ejigbo, Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State from submerging their furniture, their electronic equipment and a few other things.
“I now know that not all prayers are answered because if they were, my wife and I would not have gone through the same pain we experienced last Thursday when it also rained. I had prayed that the rains hold on till we move to another accommodation in Jakande Estate,
“But, that was not to be and so we have again been scooping and bailing water out of the living room as fast as we could,”, he told The Guardian at about 11.00 a.m. yesterday.
At Mosad Service Station at Ejigbo Junction, a school bus, which was trapped in the flood right at the entrance of the station since last Thursday, was still there yesterday. The station is temporarily closed as attendants would have to wade through smelly floodwater, waist-high, to attend to customers who of course, would not know how to drive their vehicles in.
Yesterday, too, fares rose as the few commercial bus drivers willing to risk the flooded roads, tried to take thousands of stranded commuters to their destinations.
The rains have also taken heavy toll on the construction of work by the state government on the inner Oke-Afa Road, adjacent to the popular Oke-Afa Canal, where many people lost their lives during the January 27, 2001 bomb blasts.
The multi-million naira, 2.8-kilometre road, would link the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Akinsanya and about six other roads within the Oke-Afa/Ilamoshe estate of Ejigbo, to ease traffic on the Oke-Afa/Ikotun Egbe Road.
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) company handling the project and other link bridge to Ajao estate has experienced a slow down due to heavy rains in the last one week. Most of the workers have become idle, though some were seen clearing the drainage channels. More worrisome is the fact that the foot-bridge constructed by the CCECC for pedestrians living across Ejigbo, Ikotun, Ijegun, Egbe has collapsed, leading to a traffic snarl on the Oke-Afa/Ikotun Egbe road.
According to Jude Akamiro, a businessman who was trapped in the flood at Ejigbo junction yesterday, “government also should take a slice of the blame for the pain flood brings to the citizens. How many of the canals the government said it would dredge and de-silt were actually attended to? How professional are the drainage construction projects it is executing in parts of the state? Sometimes, too, along Oke-Afa-Ejigbo Road, Ipaja-Ayobo and even along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, on-going road projects create more problems such as flooding in those areas when it rains.”
Meteorologists at the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had warned that Nigerians, especially those living in coastal areas, should prepare for more rains, which according to them would last till the third week of July.
The agency’s Deputy General Manager, Mr. Cyprian Okoloye, told The Guardian yesterday: “We are monitoring the situation over the coast and inland, as well as most areas in the South. Just like I said the rains will continue till the third week of July. The only thing that will vary is the intensity. It will subside for a while and pick up again.”
However, the agency’s Director General, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, had at the beginning of the year given a clear picture of rainfall pattern for 2012, in a paper titled: “Seasonal Rainfall Prediction and Socio-economic Implications for Nigeria for year 2012.”
According to the Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP), “ there is likely to be normal onset of rains in 2012 in most parts of the country. Onset dates between late February (in the Southern-most part of the country) and last week of June (in the northernmost part of the country) are predicted. A near normal annual rainfall amount is predicted varying from 300 to 1100mm in the northern half of the country and from 1200 to 2700mm in the South.”
Okoloye said: “Right now the Monsoon flow pattern is over the West Coast of Africa where it brings a lot of rainfall over the coast. So, right now, it is deep. The whole country is having rain. Like in Abuja, the rain has been heavy and in most parts of the South. We are in the peak period for rain.
“So it will continue up till the third week of July before we will have a respite. There will be temporary relief with drizzles. Then there will be a little dry season afterwards—- what people call August break.
“This Monsoon flow is very deep over the coast of West Africa and will continue to bring rain. I can tell you it will continue at interval. So you will expect flash floods here and there.”
On what Nigerians should do to ameliorate the effects of the rains or rather, to contain the rains, the meteorologist said: “Listen to weather forecast for cities across Nigeria and this can be obtained from our website. The Central Forecast Office on daily basis publishes two to three days’ weather predictions for state capitals and beyond. This will equip them to take precautions.”
Okoloye said there would be a respite for just a day or so. “The rains will subside and pick up,” he said.
Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, had said that the rains would begin in March and end in November.
Bello had told journalists: “It has also been predicted that the end of season for 2012 rainfall is 12 November with a margin of error of two days, between 10 and 14 November as probable days.”
SOURCE: Guardian 3 July 2012.
People who had appointments either failed to keep them or had them postponed on account of the gridlock on major roads including Oshodi/Apapa Expressway, Mile Two/Agbara, Isolo-Ejigbo-Ikotun Road, the Lagos –Abeokuta expressway and major roads in Victoria Island.
It took about two hours after it started, that yesterday morning’s rain, somewhat eased in intensity and a tired Gaji Ayawanle and his wife, Kike, were able to rest. They had been battling to keep the floodwater that had invaded their ground-floor home in Orilowo Ejigbo, Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State from submerging their furniture, their electronic equipment and a few other things.
“I now know that not all prayers are answered because if they were, my wife and I would not have gone through the same pain we experienced last Thursday when it also rained. I had prayed that the rains hold on till we move to another accommodation in Jakande Estate,
“But, that was not to be and so we have again been scooping and bailing water out of the living room as fast as we could,”, he told The Guardian at about 11.00 a.m. yesterday.
At Mosad Service Station at Ejigbo Junction, a school bus, which was trapped in the flood right at the entrance of the station since last Thursday, was still there yesterday. The station is temporarily closed as attendants would have to wade through smelly floodwater, waist-high, to attend to customers who of course, would not know how to drive their vehicles in.
Yesterday, too, fares rose as the few commercial bus drivers willing to risk the flooded roads, tried to take thousands of stranded commuters to their destinations.
The rains have also taken heavy toll on the construction of work by the state government on the inner Oke-Afa Road, adjacent to the popular Oke-Afa Canal, where many people lost their lives during the January 27, 2001 bomb blasts.
The multi-million naira, 2.8-kilometre road, would link the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Akinsanya and about six other roads within the Oke-Afa/Ilamoshe estate of Ejigbo, to ease traffic on the Oke-Afa/Ikotun Egbe Road.
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) company handling the project and other link bridge to Ajao estate has experienced a slow down due to heavy rains in the last one week. Most of the workers have become idle, though some were seen clearing the drainage channels. More worrisome is the fact that the foot-bridge constructed by the CCECC for pedestrians living across Ejigbo, Ikotun, Ijegun, Egbe has collapsed, leading to a traffic snarl on the Oke-Afa/Ikotun Egbe road.
According to Jude Akamiro, a businessman who was trapped in the flood at Ejigbo junction yesterday, “government also should take a slice of the blame for the pain flood brings to the citizens. How many of the canals the government said it would dredge and de-silt were actually attended to? How professional are the drainage construction projects it is executing in parts of the state? Sometimes, too, along Oke-Afa-Ejigbo Road, Ipaja-Ayobo and even along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, on-going road projects create more problems such as flooding in those areas when it rains.”
Meteorologists at the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had warned that Nigerians, especially those living in coastal areas, should prepare for more rains, which according to them would last till the third week of July.
The agency’s Deputy General Manager, Mr. Cyprian Okoloye, told The Guardian yesterday: “We are monitoring the situation over the coast and inland, as well as most areas in the South. Just like I said the rains will continue till the third week of July. The only thing that will vary is the intensity. It will subside for a while and pick up again.”
However, the agency’s Director General, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, had at the beginning of the year given a clear picture of rainfall pattern for 2012, in a paper titled: “Seasonal Rainfall Prediction and Socio-economic Implications for Nigeria for year 2012.”
According to the Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP), “ there is likely to be normal onset of rains in 2012 in most parts of the country. Onset dates between late February (in the Southern-most part of the country) and last week of June (in the northernmost part of the country) are predicted. A near normal annual rainfall amount is predicted varying from 300 to 1100mm in the northern half of the country and from 1200 to 2700mm in the South.”
Okoloye said: “Right now the Monsoon flow pattern is over the West Coast of Africa where it brings a lot of rainfall over the coast. So, right now, it is deep. The whole country is having rain. Like in Abuja, the rain has been heavy and in most parts of the South. We are in the peak period for rain.
“So it will continue up till the third week of July before we will have a respite. There will be temporary relief with drizzles. Then there will be a little dry season afterwards—- what people call August break.
“This Monsoon flow is very deep over the coast of West Africa and will continue to bring rain. I can tell you it will continue at interval. So you will expect flash floods here and there.”
On what Nigerians should do to ameliorate the effects of the rains or rather, to contain the rains, the meteorologist said: “Listen to weather forecast for cities across Nigeria and this can be obtained from our website. The Central Forecast Office on daily basis publishes two to three days’ weather predictions for state capitals and beyond. This will equip them to take precautions.”
Okoloye said there would be a respite for just a day or so. “The rains will subside and pick up,” he said.
Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, had said that the rains would begin in March and end in November.
Bello had told journalists: “It has also been predicted that the end of season for 2012 rainfall is 12 November with a margin of error of two days, between 10 and 14 November as probable days.”
SOURCE: Guardian 3 July 2012.
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