It was a sad and difficult day on Tuesday as people in several neighborhoods in the Ijede area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, dealt with the damage caused by heavy floods. The floods destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
Reporters said the neighborhoods affected include Oko Ope, Anjorin, Abule Eko, and Odetedo.
Videos of the flooded areas appeared online on Monday and caused a lot of worry. In the videos, residents were begging for help as the water covered their homes and streets.
When reporters visited the area on Tuesday, they saw residents trying to recover what was left of their soaked and damaged belongings.
Groups of people stood outside their homes, talking about how much they had lost and sharing their experiences of the flood.
One woman, who gave her name as Princess Ademola, said the flood destroyed most of her belongings.
Ademola, who lives in the Oko Ope area and was seen in one of the viral videos, said she made the video when the water level became dangerously high.
“We’ve never seen flooding like this before. It started raining normally, but soon the water kept rising. When it got close to my shoulder, I recorded the video. It destroyed everything – the generator, water pumps, even our cars,” she said.
Another resident, Akinwale Olukoya, said he rushed back from Anambra State after seeing the video.“I work in Anambra, but when I saw the video yesterday and got a call from my neighbor, I quickly got on a night bus. When I arrived this morning, I was shocked.
Most of my things were underwater. It was a terrible experience,” he said.
While walking around the area, the reporter counted at least 28 houses where fences had fallen because of the flood.
In one case, the wall of a house collapsed and damaged a car parked nearby, breaking its windscreen.
Dimeji Oladejo, a relative of the car’s owner, said he got a call from his brother about the incident on Tuesday morning.
“My brother called to say the flood weakened the fence and it collapsed on his car. When I got here, I saw the windscreen was smashed. We’ve just covered it with nylon for now,” he said.
Some shop owners were trying to save what was left of their goods, and many people were moving their belongings out of their flooded homes.
At a fuel station on Abule Eko Road, the flood was so strong that it caused the underground fuel tank to collapse, adding to the destruction.
Residents blamed the flooding on a drainage project that was started but not completed.
Ismael Taoreed, a bar owner in Abule Eko, said the drainage project had been left unfinished for over four months.
“The flooding happened because they stopped working on the drainage project from Oko Ope to Abule Eko. The construction was abandoned four months ago.“
Before, the water used to flow away, but now the unfinished work blocks the flow. Since the water has nowhere to go, it floods our homes. The government must continue the work before things get worse,” he said.
Another resident, who didn’t want to share their name, said some parts of the drainage had been buried under sand because the project wasn’t finished.
“The worst part is that parts of the drainage are now covered in sand. Everyone here is suffering, and we want the government to act fast.“
We’re just thankful this didn’t happen while schools were in session. It would have been much worse with children around,” the resident said.
At the time of the report, Lagos State’s Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotosho, had not answered phone calls or replied to a text message about the issue.
