“We are not saying expect, we are saying be prepared,” says Engr. Nurudeen Shodeinde P.S., office of drainages services and water resources, Lagos State Min. of Environment.
Engr. Nurudeen said this while discussing the current state of flood in Lagos state, as the government tells residents of Ketu, Mile 12, and Others to relocate.
Speaking about the ongoing flooding and the warnings issued by the Federal Government he said, ” We are not saying expect, we are saying be prepared because we can’t control nature when it happens and we can not predetermine the volume we can only project it.
From the data we have, compared to previous years, we are fine. Kara area is flood plane, water being there is natural because it is its natural habitat, we are the ones that went to invade its space and did not provide for that invasion.
But from my own data, we are fine. We are still below the flood alert level but we know that nature surprises and climate change are not predeterminable we are saying that in case that indicator comes, we don’t want to be found too relaxed if not prepared. We are saying be alert and we will not likely happen.
As I talking to you now, the water in the damn has been reduced but if it happens, I mean God can surprise us we need to be prepared for it. However, we have made some minimum arrangements in case it happens.
Government knowing that some areas are prone to flood, how prepared was the government?
Lagos has been prepared for more than 40 years now because the first master plan Lagos had for Drainage was in 1974 and which identified about six systems for drainage in Lagos state and these are natural channels that existed.
Lagos is a coastal state and most of the lands are drainage basins and we put a plan to leave some areas when developing. Our preparation is that we made sure these channels are flowing well, we clean them and we make them functional.
People have built close to these canals and their areas but we plan on expanding it and it might lead to demolition which will take us about two years to finish.
The ground is the biggest drainage system but you and I have sealed it making it hard for the ground to suck water. 50 per cent of the water that is supposed to go to the ground is now flowing on the surface and no engineer can solve that.
The trees and the grass is all gone and that’s another drainage capacity that has been taken out.
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