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.

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.

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.

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’’.

Also at Dopemu, Agege area, residents of 16, Adesokan Street, wailed uncontrollably as the officials of the state Fire Service from Agege removed the corpse of a 22-year old Muri Olanrewaju who died inside a sewage tank.

It was learnt that Olanrewaju  slipped into the sewage pit that was already submerged by flood.

Though, the state government had on Sunday asked school children to stay away from their schools yesterday, because of the effect of the heavy down pour, civil servants also seized the opportunity to stay away, as many of them tried to rescue their already damaged propertyincluding house hold items like electronics, vehicles among others from the flood.

Fashola, who inspected areas affected by the flood on Monday, empathized with victims who lost their relatives and properties to the flood.

He, however, warned that the state government will immediately commence the enforcement of a new regime of laws affecting  the environment, stressing that such matters would no longer be compromised.

“Those who are in buildings that we have marked as structurally unstable or those who built on canals should leave the building immediately because we are coming to take possession, we are not going to risk human lives anymore.

“My sympathy goes to the people affected in the flood. I condole with people who lost children or properties; they should know I am with them, I will be making an appeal to the President to help with funds to relocate and resettle flood victims. I will also write to the Federal Government on the failed portion of Abeokuta Expressway. We hope the Federal Government would respond because we havevirtually lost that road and traffic will be terrible,” Fashola said, while inspecting areas affected by the flood.

He said: “Those who are in buildings that we have marked as structurally unstable or those who built on canals and drainage channels should vacate the building immediately because we are coming to take possession, we are not going to risk human lives anymore. My sympathy goes to the people affected in the flood. I condole with people who lost children or properties; they should know am with them, I will be making an appeal to the president to help with fund to relocate and resettle flood victims.

“I will also write to the federal government on the failed portion of Abeokuta Expressway. We hope the FG would respond because we have virtually lost that road and traffic will be terrible.”

However, unconfirmed report in Akara area of Alagbado, had it that a yet to be identified young man, about 25 years old, was killed on Sunday night when a wall fell on him. He was said to be returning from an outing when the fence, which was obviously weakened by the flood collapsed on him, killing him instantly. The deceased’s fiance is said to be pregnant and they were billed for wed next month.

Source