BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

No fewer than 6,000 homes located in the Isheri North area, a suburb of Lagos, Warewa and Magboro, border towns between Lagos and Ogun State have been chased out of their homes by raging flood.

Several estates within the Isheri North area of the state numbering over 10, especially the River View, Sparklight and many other residential and office buildings located around the Ogun Property Investment Company PIC area have been submerged by flood occasioned by the opening of the Oyo Dam.

Also affected by the raging flood are parts of Warewa and Magboro, which have compelled many families to flee their homes, which have been made uninhabitable by the flood, thus causing untold hardships and loss of hundreds of millions of naira to the affected families.

Investigations also showed that the floods have as well submerged electricity installations such as transformers, sub-stations and others, even as poles and wires have fallen, thus throwing many more homes into perpetual darkness.

It was gathered that apart from the release of water from the Oyo Dam, which happens yearly, the torrential rain that fell on Sunday helped to worsen the already bad situation.

Though many people have fled their homes about two weeks ago when the gradual release of the water from the dam commenced, some families were cited this morning using wooden boats to salvage whatever is left of their property and home appliances with a view to leaving the flooded homes.

An eyewitness at the River View Estate in Isheri North identified just as Chukwueze, who spoke with our correspondent narrated the ordeal of the residents, saying that the flood was increasing by the day, an indication that the dam water was still being released.

“I am six-foot, two inches and the last time I stepped into the water in my compound, it got to my abdomen while the water in my sitting room is more than two metres. Because of the volume and veracity of the flood, the perimeter fence of our estate collapsed and so also fences of individual homes”, he said.

On why he did not relocate following repeated warning by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency NIMET and other relevant government agencies that residents in flood-prone areas should relocate, noted that the incident had been happening over the years but that this year’s flooding remains the highest in history.

He called on the Federal and state governments to come to the rescue of the affected victims in order to mitigate their losses and also find a permanent solution on the flood disaster in the affected areas.

Meanwhile it was gathered that relevant agencies in Lagos and Ogun States are currently putting their heads together with a view to coming to the aid of the victims of the flood disaster in the two states.   

Recall that NIMET and other relevant agencies of both the Federal and state governments had since been warning that residents in flood prone areas should relocate, as there would be massive flooding in the areas, which was probably not heeded.