11th March, 2013
The Lagos State Government has made a passionate appeal to residents of the state living in flood-prone areas to vacate their homes as heavier rains with thunderstorms have been predicted to occur in this state this year.
Lagos Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello warned residents in wetlands and flood-prone areas, such as Agiliti, Owode Onirin, Ajegunle, Aboru, Badiya, Arowojobe in Maryland, Elede, Iwaya, parts of Ketu, some areas in Ikorodu, some parts of Eti Osa, among others to relocate to avoid heavy rains which may affect them adversely.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, has predicted massive thunderstorms, with 275 days of intense rainfall for Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria this year.
Speaking in Lagos at the weekend, Bello said NIMET had predicted heavier rains in for Lagos State than last year’s and that government was adopting proactive measures to mitigate the impact of flood.
According to Bello, residents in flood-prone areas must relocate in order to avert disasters as the rains, definitely would be very heavy.
“It has been predicted that rainfall will commence in Lagos between the first and second week in March, with a margin of error of three days, as probable onset dates for year 2013 rainy season. This prediction is being further confirmed with the rains which has come in torrents on Saturday/Sunday 1-2 March, 2013 as well as 4 Monday, 2013 respectively.
“It has also been predicted that the end of season for year 2013 rainfall is 17 December, 2013, with a margin error of four days, which is between 13 and 21 December, 2013 as probable days.
“From the year 2013 seasonal rainfall predictions, Lagos State shall experience a rainy season of about 249-275 days with intermittent stoppage in February and August. The magnitude of Lagos seasonal rainfall prediction for this year is that Lagos will experience heavy rainfall of high intensity, with thunderstorms just like last year,” Bello added.
According to him, Lagos is expected to record 1,722mm with marginal error of between 21 and 179mm, adding that thunderstorms had also been predicted to occur during the rainy period of June, July, August, September and October.
He appealed to residents to desist from acts that could lead to flooding, such as indiscriminate dumping of refuse in unauthorised places like drains and canals as well as evacuate all silted drains around their homes and premises.
“Illegal building of structures on drainage alignments, road setbacks and verges remains prohibited. We should not patronise cart pushers who will end up dumping the waste inside canals,” he stated.
The commissioner added that Lagosians should report cases of drainage blockages, dumping of waste into canals and other unauthorized places to government’s residents’ engineers in their domains.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga