The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, (NiHSA), Umar Mohammed, says last week’s devastating floods in Lagos State and some other states across the country were not a surprise.
The DG added that NiHSA’s forecasts and warnings were disregarded. According to him, before the floods, NiSHA had performed its forecasting using several models, saying, “This is something we foresaw, we saw it coming.”
He warned, “As we speak now, with the flooding happening, if nothing is done, this is just the start of the rainy season, sometime around July-September (12 weeks), and it could be worse than what is even happening right now. “And we’re expecting it to be worse around August-September, particularly August-September”.
Muhammad also raised fears about how the flooding could affect drinking water in affected states, as it could be polluted.
Last Tuesday, torrential rainfall in Lagos had lasted over 12 hours submerging property and roads in Lagos while bringing commercial activities and vehicular movement to a halt.
The downpour, which started yesterday, reached a crescendo, leaving motorists and commuters stranded across the metropolis, while residents had to bail out storm water from their homes to stay safe.Parents and guardians, in panic mode, prevented their children and wards from going to school due to severity of the downpour and possible risks.
The areas heavily flooded include: Lagos-Oshodi Expressway, Abeokuta Expressway, by Oshodi bus stop, Lekki-Epe Expressway and environs, Victoria Island, Agege, Ikeja, Oworonsoki, Gbagada, Funsho Williams Avenue, formerly called Western Avenue, Iwaya area of Yaba, Lagos Mainland local government area, and other coastal areas.
Mohammed, who spoke through the Head, Geographic Information System, (GIS), and Remote Sensing, Emmanuel David Tuna, at the weekend, warned that, “As we speak now, with the flooding happening, if nothing is done, this is just the start of the rainy season, sometime around July-September, and it could be worse than what is even happening right now. And we’re expecting it to be worse around August-September, particularly August-September”.
However, the NiHSA boss said the floods in Lagos will recede in October, but not before going into an on-and-off pattern.
The DG lamented poor cooperation from state governments on annual flood predictions and what to do to mitigate the impact as he said, “We have a challenge of cooperation from states, a serious challenge with cooperation from states. Most times we come before the flood starts, because we are not coming when the flood is happening, they are not seeing any impending danger. Most times we get disregarded. Our warnings are not taken with seriousness”.
