Floods took over several areas of Lagos State after a few hours of heavy rainfall on Monday.
Apart from the disruption of traffic on major roads in Lagos, the rainstorm uprooted trees and blew off rooftops of some houses in the city.
Local media reports said that some of the major areas affected included Alfred Rewane Road in Ikoyi, where rainstorm uprooted trees which fell on moving cars, Apongbon axis on Lagos Island and Toyin Street in Ikeja.
According to the reports, traffic at the Ogudu end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was almost at a standstill as rainwater took over the road, forcing motorists to move at a very slow pace.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has assured residents that it had put in place necessary measures to address challenges posed by heavy rainfall, as we gradually approach the rainy season.
In a joint statement released on Monday in Ikeja, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr, Fola Adeyemi and his counterpart in the Ministry of the Environment, Mr. Abiodun Bamgboye, urged Lagosians to remain calm as the unpredictable pattern of rainfall currently being experienced is a natural outcome of climate change.
It stated that it was not unusual to occasionally experience flash-floods, especially in a coastal state like Lagos, as well as during rain of high intensity, as it occurred on Monday, but assured Lagosians that in a matter of time, they would all disappear and be contained by the drainages.
“Sometimes when it rains, we are likely to have flash-floods on our roads as it sometimes happens in other parts of the world, but the relief here is that the flash-floods will disappear in a couple of hours,” the statement said.
The government also assured Lagosians that relevant government agencies, like Drainage Services Department, LASEMA, LASPARK, had been put on red alert to adequately respond to any unforeseen occurrences, during rains of high intensity as well as cart away fallen trees, Electricity poles and confront any other emergencies, during the rains.
“Similarly, Lagos State Public Works Corporation is already on ground to clean the drainage channels, drainage set-backs and other road debris,” it said.
The government appealed to Lagosians to desist from the act of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drains as well as erecting structures on drainages and their alignments as these acts are capable of precipitating flooding.
GIK/APA