Downpour: Gas man drowns, Lekki, Ikorodu residents, landlords flee - Punch

Incessant rain in Lagos and Ogun states in the past one week has not only wreaked havoc, but also exposed infrastructural deficit in the two neighbouring states, newsmen

have revealed.

The  correspondents, who monitored many parts of the two states on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, reported that the flood caused by incessant rain, claimed lives and destroyed homes and property.

Also, motorists and commuters were not spared of the harrowing experience as many of them spent hours on flooded roads.

It was also observed that the problem was compounded by the fact that major  roads  in the states were in a  state of disrepair.

Flood sweeps cooking gas seller, seven others away in Ogun, Lagos

The downpour had on Saturday led to the death of a woman, Mrs Jumiah Utache and her three children in Magodo area of Lagos when a building collapsed on their house.

Also, the flood had claimed the lives of a 11-year-old boy, and a man, identified, as Wasiu, who wanted to rescue the boy.

Later on Saturday, a resident of Magboro, Kingsley Ejike, was swept away by the flood resulting from Saturday’s downpour.

He got drowned in a flood around Sparklight  Estate area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.

Ejike, a cooking gas supplier operating in the Magboro area of Ogun State, was said to be the owner of Kingsfield Gas at Magboro.

He was said to have fallen victim to the flood while on a trip to supply cooking gas to some residents of Sparklight Estate, near the MFM at about 6.15pm.

A source in the area said Kingsley, who rode a motorcycle, was on his third gas supply trip to the estate when the tragedy happened.

“He was well known by residents of the estate because of his exceptional commitment to his cooking gas supply business.

“His body was recovered on Sunday morning in the neighbourhood river by some Ilaje fishermen, whose services were sought for the recovery,” the source told The PUNCH.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident, said Ejike was riding his motorcycle to a destination when flood occasioned by the downpour swept him into a tunnel, adding that his remains were recovered and deposited in a mortuary.

Oyeyemi said, “The person was riding a motorcycle and wanted to pass through Sparklight Estate, but didn’t know that the construction company, Julius Berger, while constructing the road, channelled water under the tunnel in the area. But because the area was flooded, he drove past the axis and the flood swept him and the motorcycle into the tunnel. But local divers and the police recovered his corpse this morning around 9.30am and deposited it in the mortuary.”

I spent six hours from Iyana Ipaja to Yaba-Resident

However, a resident of Abule-Egba Lagos, Idowu Thomas, told one of our correspondents that a bus he boarded on Tuesday at Iyana Ipaja spent six hours before getting to Yaba.

“I am terribly sick now. The road from Iyana Ipaja to Ikeja Along was flooded. The bus spent two hours there. Awolowo Road in Ikeja was also flooded. Ikorodu Road was not spared. We were stuck there,”  he stated.

I lost two cars to Saturday flooding – Lagos landlord

Also, a landlord, Aina Oke, in an interview with one of our correspondents,  said his two cars were damaged inside his compound in Abule Egba, following hours of rain on Saturday.

Oke, a building contractor, said the continuous rainfall caused his street to flood; a situation, he said, led to the collapse of his fence on his two Sport Utility Vehicles.

He stated, “I had no inclination that the fence was defective. In fact, it came to me as a surprise. When I saw the damage,  I didn’t know how to react but I later consoled myself by thinking of people whose houses were flooded and even those whose loved ones were swept away by the flood.”

Oke urged the Lagos State Government to address the problem of flooding in the state, adding that it had taken a dangerous dimension.

According to him, except something is done urgently, the entire state may be washed away one day.

The flood also caused gridlock and destroyed homes at Jakande, Lekki, Ebute-Meta, Ijegun, Idimu, Agege, Randle and  Maryland areas of Lagos State.

 Some residents of the areas took to Twitter to complain about their flooded homes. A resident of Arowojobe Estate, Maryland,  Aroghene,   in her Twitter handle posted a video of her flooded home.

 The video showed water covering her belongings. It also showed  her bed floating in the flood. She said the water was just not rain, but also water from a canal in the area. Aroghene said she was accommodated by a friend.

Residents flee as flood sweep  through Ikorodu, Lekki

In Ikorodu, Lekki and Bariga,  schools and homes were heavily flooded following Friday and Saturday’s downpour in the state.

It was observed that at Igbe in Ikorodu, schools closed early on Friday because of the downpour.

Read more in the Punch Newspaper.