Lagos State government has warned residents of the state that there would be heavy rainfall starting from the end of August.
This is as it however stated that efforts were ongoing to limit the effect of the rains.
The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, made this known at a press conference at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
He said work was ongoing on more than 200 secondary channels with over 80 per cent in various stages of completion, just as 46 primary channels are presently receiving various forms of attention.
That, he said, was apart from the huge efforts of the Emergency Flood Abatement Gangs which he said were being deployed round the state to undertake quick fix to free manholes or clogged up drains manually.
The commissioner added that pumping stations were being provided to prevent flooding.
According to him, one of the stations was being planned for Ilubirin in Lagos Island.
The provision, Bello said, would ensure quick pumping out of water from flooded neighbourhoods and reduce risk of loss of lives and damages to properties.
Other flood prone areas like Owode, Agboyi-Ketu would also benefit from the provision, he added.
“For a coastal city like Lagos, once it rains consistently for a minimum of eight hours, we are bound to have flash flood caused by increasing inability of effective discharge into the lagoon, which is brought about by a rise of the ocean level.
“This will automatically lock up all our drainages and until the water level goes down, the drainages would be unable to discharge.
“This is the new wave in most coastal cities around the world, including those who have adopted the best of technological advancements to curtail flooding,” he said.
The commissioner said based on the data from the Nigerian Hydrological Services, July, August, September and October, would come with heavy rainfall, capable of causing flooding and flood disasters in most parts of the country.
He said while states like Ogun and Ekiti suffer from urban and river flooding, Lagos would be at the receiving end of three types – coastal, urban and river flooding.
That, he explained, was because of the peculiarity of its location.
According to him, the management of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Authority had started staggered release of water from the Oyan Dam, with eight to 10 million cubic metres being released in August, which would increase to 18 million in September and 23 million in October, which is the peak.
Residents of low lying areas that are contiguous to the Ogun River, he warned, should be alert to the possibility of their homes being flooded as water is released from the dam.
He said residents should stop dumping refuse in drainage channels and erecting structures on drainage alignments.
