Rainy Season: A Blessing or a Curse?

The Rainy season is here again and people are apparently becoming aware of their environment. The rains usually come with its merits and demerits. It could get pretty messy on some days while the rain might just be the soothing relief or cooling effect needed on other days.

But what does the rainy season really mean to us? What’s the innermost feeling like whenever the clouds shed it sky blue cover for a darker one in preparation for a downpour? Do you see the rainy season as a blessing or a curse?

Afro-beat legend and arguably Nigerian’s finest artiste ever, Late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti once thrilled his audience worldwide with a hit-song whose dominant lyrics were “Water no get enemy.” However, as far as Lagos is concerned the late Fela might not have done his research well enough before releasing that track that held and still holds many of his fans spellbound.

According to  UN-HABITAT’s report, titled, ‘The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequality and Urban Land Markets’, more than 25 per cent of Africa’s population, of about one billion people, who live within 100 km from the coast will be at risk from sea level rise and coastal flooding over the coming decades due to climate change.

Allwell Okpi, a correspondent with Punch reported that the implication of this is that the whole of Lagos State will be overtaken by the ocean, considering that Ifako-Ijaiye, the north-most part of the state, which is farthest from the ocean, is just about 40 km from the coastline measured in a straight line.

In recent times, environmentalists have raised alarmed over climate change and its effect which include sea level rise. Of major concern has been the city of Lagos, which the commercial capital of Nigeria and indeed the largest commercial hub in West Africa.

At the moment we are yet to experience the full effects of heavy rains as compared to what it was like in 2015. The only most recent widely reported incidence of flooding occurred some couple of days ago in the Lekki-Ajah axis of Lagos. That didn’t cause much fuss compared to what was obtainable in the past

Some still believe the flooding in Lagos Island which seems worse in relation to what the Lagosians on the mainland experience is as a result of poor drainage. However, that is really not the case.  The singular fact that places like Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi, Victoria Island to mention but a few are super close to the Atlantic Ocean makes such areas vulnerable to flooding.  Now that is putting it rather mildly. Many places on the Island are akin to flooding; more like saying flooding is synonymous to Lagos Island. Invariably, flooding in Lagos is no longer news. Imagine a place like Abuja making the news for immense flooding, before long the town criers will be out to sound their gongs to report what you may want to term an “Unnatural disaster”.

What am I saying in essence? In Lagos, sea level keeps threatening and the rains are definitely applauding the sea’s prowess, crowning the sea’s efforts with a deluge of inestimable loss.

Albeit let’s not get it twisted, Lagos is not the only mega city in the world that is prone to flooding. It happens in Dubai, Paris and even in the United States of America, so its nothing new. Its just that in those countries the government mobilizes the  police, civil defence and any other security personnel available, with ambulances all over to forestall any loss of lives and property.  The rescue operations in these developed countries is so upbeat that you will be fascinated anytime there is a flood. Just kidding though, but it still doesn’t change the fact that ‘these’ are properly planned cities.

As a coastal state, the city of Lagos lies on the belt and essentially surrounded by water. One of the major challenges the city is faced with during the rainy season definitely has to be flooding. There is no two ways about it.

The rainy season and its resultant incidence of flooding has become a dominant feature in some localities in the Lagos metropolis. Asides residents in the flood plain areas of the state, bad or blocked drainage and the poor environmental activities of some residents have made Lagos state a highly flood prone zone and ‘rain in water’s clothing’ her foremost enemy. Some residents are usually forced to relocate when the rains come. I wonder what happens when the rains decide to fall for a greater part of the year as we’ve been experiencing already. Does it mean the affected ones will be locked out of their homes all year long as long as the rainy season lasts for that duration?

The incessant rains have increased the water level of the lagoons and rivers thereby resulting in back flow into adjoining low-line areas. This issue among a series of others has led to the inability of drainage channels to discharge water.

The vulnerability of low-line areas to flooding shouldn’t pose a threat, the problem is the people who choose to make natural flood plains their residential abodes.

Some residents of low line areas such as Ajegunle, Owode-Onirin, Owode-Elelede, Kuramo Beach, Alpha Beach, Okun-Mapo, Okun-Ajah, Mende-Maryland, Ijora-Badia and Iwaya, among others are usually at the mercy of government as they are at  a high risk of relocation once the rain intensifies. And in the event that the government goes ‘AWOL’, relocation is mostly a better option than death.

READ ALSO: Relocation as a last resort in the event of a disaster

In the last few days, Lagosians have been experiencing frequent rainfall with residents living in fear of the unknown due to the bad experiences they’ve had with rain. In the past people have been driven out of their homes because of rising water level which makes their homes inhabitable. In extreme cases, people have gone missing when raging flood from several days of raining submerge an entire neighbouhood. Houses are washed away due to the impact of the water under high stream velocity. The houses are commonly destroyed or dislocated so severely that their reconstruction is not feasible. Worse still deaths have occurred and children are not spared from all of these.

 

Lagos, during rainy season can be a very challenging place to live. When it rains in this city, the roads are flooded, streets submerged and properties lost to the fiery torrents of heavy downpour. Ordinarily, the cool, breezy and cold season of the wet season is meant to be a welcome relief from the heat of the dry season, but in Lagos, the rain can mean different things to different people depending on which part of this mega city one resides.

 

Nonetheless, for some Lagosians the fear of rain will continue to be the beginning of wisdom. So water does have some enemies after-all contrary to Fela’s thoughts.

How is the rain in your part of Lagos? Are you at crossroads when it rains in your area?

Do you wear a huge smile on your face when it rains?

Or are you one of the Lagosians who frowns at Fela’s mention of “water no get enemy” in that legendary song?

Are the rains more of a curse than it is a blessing?