Ogun estate residents stranded as flood overruns link road
Most residents in the Gateway Sparklight Estate area, opposite Mountain Top University, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State, were unable to go out to carry out their various daily activities on Thursday after a flood took over the main road connecting them to the highway.
Our correspondent, who visited the area on Thursday morning, could not pass through the road that connected the estate to the expressway.
Motorcyclists, car owners and other pedestrians were left stranded on either side of the link road.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the downpour from Wednesday night till the early hours of Thursday, left many areas flooded in Ogun and Lagos states, as many described the rainfall as one of a kind.
Many shop owners on the roadside in the Sparklight estate area – a furniture shop, drinks shop and others, were sacked as the water level reached at least half of the heights of the shops.
A motorcycle was seen to have been abandoned by its owner, who might have fled for his life.
A resident, identified as Jide, who was carrying his bag and wanted to go to work, turned back, saying he could not risk his life.
“It’s better to take the pictures and send them to my boss than for me to enter this water,” our correspondent heard him saying as he turned back to the estate.
Another resident, Michael Adams, who spoke with PUNCH Metro, said, “It is very risky like this. One Igbo boy selling gas died here about two years ago. He entered the water with his bike while carrying gas cylinders. The flood carried him, he was brought out dead.”
The situation further became dramatic when a man already came with a fishing net, cutlass and other equipment, and began hunting for fishes that were seen moving in the waters
Two women went inside the estate to bring fishing baskets and joined the men in the fishing.
“If we cannot go out, we can stay at home and cook fish,” a man who did not give his name, said.
Lamenting, some of the stranded persons wondered why the road had not been fixed by constructing a bridge.
“Once the water goes down now, it will be forgotten in about a week,” a worker at a park, Hi-Impact, in the area, who managed to pass through the water that reached his waist, lamented.
“We need a bridge here,” another woman, who gave her name simply as Funsho, said, as she leaned on her car, looking worried.
A boy and a girl who also struggled to wade through the water were seen holding each other as they feared falling into the water.
Also, in the Magboro area of Ogun State, commuters grumbled on the road leading to areas off the expressway.
The already bad road that leads to Powerline, Cele, Gasline and other estates was worsened by the Wednesday evening downpour.
Our correspondent observed on Thursday morning that vehicles were manoeuvring the potholes already turned ‘pools’ as they headed out to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
As of Wednesday night, vehicles were left stuck on some parts of the road that were completely covered with water.
A bus driver whose vehicle was stuck was seen arguing with a commercial motorcyclist whom he blamed for his predicament. The altercation nearly got physical but passersby intervened to calm the situation.
A food seller in the Gasline area, Iya Ahmad, who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Thursday, said, “I am not certain I would make sales today because there is nowhere my customers will even put their legs even if they want to buy food.”
A driver, Isiaka Lukman, who lamented the situation of the road, said, “This road was constructed during the former Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s administration. Since then, no government has attended to it.”
