The recent raining/flooding in certain parts of the City of Lagos has held the whole State partially captive. We have witnessed heavy rain pour in the past but it seems to be getting worse as the years goes by. The situation has gotten so bad, that it has left people scrambling from their houses in search for shelter almost like refugees. I have heard stories of people loading their belongings for example mattresses and chairs unto pickups on their way to dry land. They were in no doubt in search of greener pastures and a better alternative. The news saddened me as I bemoaned the state of my beautiful State.
There has been several harrowing tales of the impact of the rain on the lives of ordinary citizens in the newspapers and social media outlets. Some days ago I got a phone call from a friend of mine named Shade. She had frantically called me in a state of panic and shock. In the midst of the heavy wind and downpour she was in the middle of watching her favourite TV show when she was jolted by a crashing noise from a near distance. Unfortunately, she was home alone in her house. She debated on whether or not to investigate the strange noise. Reluctantly she decided to go in search of the noise as she realized it was best to know than to let her imagination run wild.
Slowly she crept towards the area the noise originated from, fearing the worst but hoping for the best. Right in front of her eyes laid small bits of the roof broken and shattered in the middle of the sitting room just above the TV. It must have fallen due to the heavy rain and the mighty wind that had ravaged the State for days. It had landed on the TV, in turn sending it crashing to the floor. What made matters worse was the fact that rain had not stopped; it entered into the sitting room, through the opening in the roof.
After I had listened to her ordeal, I gave her the number of a bricklayer, as she didn’t have any in her contact list. At first nothing I said was able to convince her because she feared the whole roof might cave in on her. After which I turned on my notifications for my Twitter and soon begun getting tweets of the adverse effect of the rain in certain areas of the city. Some people complained about destructions to some parts of their buildings or their fences. I actually saw pictures of a fence that had been completely levelled to the ground. My mind was full of the many scenarios, as I thanked God my house was spared from the wreckage. Shade’s story brought the problems encountered by the many rain falls/ floods closer to home.
It was a chore getting up the next morning; I was physically and mentally tired from the events that occurred the day before. Unfortunately we had training at work that morning which was compulsory for everyone. The scene I came across outside my house should have been an inclination of what the day might hold. The street before and my street had water almost the size of a mini swimming pool (I am not even trying to exaggerate). It was so deep that it got to past the ankles of the people who were on foot. The water was littered with dirt as dustbins of several houses floated in the water.
Upon getting to work that day, I noticed a significant difference. There was a noticeable absence in the number of people in the office. Several people had called in complaining of their inability to leave their house. In most instances they had been hemmed in by the rain/flood unable to leave their houses. Some had managed to leave their homes but ended up been stuck in standstill traffic, unable to move forward or go back home. Those of us at work also worried on the state of the road and how it would affect our journey back to our various houses later in the day. There was news filtering in about the awful state of the roads. According to reports, existing pot holes had gotten extremely huge, which made it dangerous for cars on the road to move about. This is because the holes were near impossible to see in the expanse of rain water, and one wrong move might see the car entering into one of such monstrous holes. The holes created more traffic on the road, as car users drove slowly.
The air was filled with continuous complaining and grumbling, as most people weren’t able to concentrate in the training. This was because of the constant reminder of the bad weather conditions splattered all over social media platforms. I wasn’t really bothered, for the simple fact that I lived five minutes within driving distance from the work, and about ten to fifteen minutes walking distance. This meant I wasn’t going to be affected by traffic or the rain or flood. At least that was what I thought.
However, I witnessed the first hand experience of being in traffic literally two minutes from my house. The streets were filled with cars on all sides of the road. Everyone was trying desperately to get to their various destinations. Some of the cars due to the bad weather had stopped in the middle of the road. This had contributed to the traffic level and my ability to get to my house.
I literally was staring at my house, unable to get there for close to fifteen minutes. This had me thinking of how hard it must be for people living in far places to get home considering how long it took me to get in. However the effect of the rain didn’t end at parking my car in the compound. I was confronted by dirt left behind from the aftermath of the rain. It was the first time water had ever entered into my compound. Luckily the inside of the house was spared from the onslaught of the menacing rain/flood.
Once I settled down and got on social media, I stumbled on some more pictures and I realized something has to be done. I realized the Government really has to find a solution to the drainage system of the state. I wonder what would happen if it were to rain for a whole day/24 hours non-stop. Would we be able to survive it? What amazes me is that through it all we have managed to make fun of our predicaments. We are able to laugh and make jokes even in dire circumstances. We can only hope a solution can be found before the gift of nature turns into a curse for our beloved state. The big question is, is Lagos under water?
Photo Credit: Dreamstime |Vadymvdrobot
