On March 30, the Lagos State Government told residents to expect more than normal amounts of rainfall from April 1 to the first week of December.

Going by this forecast, Adam Rasak, caretaker of one of the residences in the Anthony area of Lagos State, and his neighbours are sure of experiencing more floods.

Rasak manages a plot of land with makeshift shelters where he and a few others reside.

Across the shelters is a canal that cuts through Rasak’s neighbourhood, from TREM to Anthony, down to Mende. When it rains, Rasak said, the water from the canal pushes back into the drains, which overflow and flood the surrounding areas.

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Four days earlier, heavy downpour caused Rasak’s neighbourhood to be overcome with a flood that forced its way into his home.

“I had to raise my properties above ground level. This entire area was overrun by floods. It gets submerged when the rain comes,” he said, pointing to the expanse from the canal to his home and the surrounding neighbourhood.

Over 72 hours since the last downpour, and the traces of the flood were still visible. This is despite the recent dredging of the channel near Rasak’s home.

FLOODS RESIST GOVERNMENT’S STORMWATER INTERVENTIONS

Last year, the ministry of environment rolled out a stormwater drainage plan, listing 91 projects through which it would “de-flood the state” and “improve socioeconomic and environmental conditions of its residents”.

So far, 54 percent of these projects have been completed, and several others are still ongoing, but the impact has not been felt.

Flood visited Rasak’s home in the same week that the TREM-Yahweh-Mende channel, along which his home is situated, was dredged.

Barely three months after the Gbagada-Soluyi channel, downstream of Deeper Life, was dredged, water hyacinths and silt have begun to clog it.

In Arowojobe estate, a mechanic whose workshop is situated just at the bank of the Bush-Arowojobe channel said the dredging of the canal made no impact at all as he was again forced to evacuate his workshop following the Tuesday rainfall.

The Bush-Arowojobe channel was only recently dredged, and according to the government, the target was to de-flood parts of Ikorodu Road, Bush, Sunmola, Arowojobe Estate, and its environs. Despite executing the project, the target was obviously not met.

When it rains, the waters wash through the streets and collect improperly disposed refuse and plastics into the drains and canals, constituting blockages and frustrating government interventions.

The waste disposal problem, however, extends beyond improper disposal by residents. There is also the issue of inadequate waste management infrastructure to cater to the state’s ever-soaring population.

Together with improper real estate citing along waterways, the state continues to be at risk of flash and urban floods.

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This means that many Lagos residents will continue to be at high risk of flooding due to heavy rain and will be subjected to flood-torn homes and roads. It is apparent that more needs to be done to manage floods by both the state and residents.

The state government has warned communities in low-lying areas to relocate to higher ground, but people like Rasak are unable to do so because they do not have the means. He also does not fully understand what it means to live in a low-land area or the need to steer clear of such areas.

The way he knows to cope with the recurring floods is to remain indoors in his flood-prone home whenever it rains until the water recedes.

He says it takes only a few hours after rainfall for the water to recede.