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Surviving Flood: Oke-Ado, Oke Bola Residents Dread Days Of More Rainfall

October 6, 2019

Sympathy, the usual emotion we feel from a distance in such crises, is
suddenly replaced by grip and panic. This was grip and panic walking
again through the submerged communities of Oke-Ado and Oke Bola in
Ibadan on the 18 and 19 September 2019.

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There is so much that comes with the power of imagination, for instance, the power to visualize in one’s mind a community enmeshed in environmental crises— to relate with their pains, loss, helplessness and earnestly hope that a solution is proffered.

Sympathy, the usual emotion we feel from a distance in such crises, is suddenly replaced by grip and panic. This was grip and panic walking again through the submerged communities of Oke-Ado and Oke Bola in Ibadan on the 18 and 19 September 2019.

Earlier this year, the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had reeled out 12 states in the country that will experience extreme flooding with about 600 local government areas in the country stated to be under the threat of flood. 

Instructions were given to residents to avoid building structures within the flood plains, keep up with the exercise of cleaning their drainages and avoid undue disposal of waste.

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However, in the late hours of Wednesday 18 September, the residents of Oke-Ado and Oke Bola had quite a different narrative to the cause of flooding that bared on them. 

Residents of Oke-Ado and Oke Bola had had a break from flooding until the era of former governor of Oyo state, Adebayo Alao-Akala. The former governor had seen to the need to reconstruct tardy roads in the communities but had actually done so at a more grievous cost—roads were expanded with little attention to the influx of water making waves from the far-off river of Odo Alagbafo to the drainages in local communities.

The construction was done in such a way that linkages were water could flow freely were blocked.

Further compounding the problem were the emergence of filling stations that had barred the torrent flow of water with underground rings. Consequently, people are constantly compelled to saddle up their girdle when the storm arises.

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Residents, understanding that road constructions cannot be reversed, attributed the need for constant dredging of neighbouring canals, ditches and drainages to allow for easy water flow.

The government in their own accord had failed to meet up with the obligation of sending appropriate authorities to do the needed. They are, therefore, left to bear the cross of clearing the gutters occasionally.

“There is a deep gutter that runs from Odo Alagbafo right through Oke Bola and Oke-Ado. On a routinary basis, we pack out the sands in these gutters by ourselves but whenever there is heavy rainfall, it goes straight back in. This we do because the government has not been consistent in making sure that these gutters are dredged,” one of the residents said.

Another victim had added that the manual act incorporated by people to save their skin has been well practiced for years but they indulge the services of the right body to do proper justice to cleat blocked drainages and culvert waterways also adding that residents had also failed to play their part in keeping flood at bay.

He said, “There was usually a refuse site in the community but now it is no more in view. Newly sprouted buildings that came up afterward resorted to putting their waste in nylons and throwing them anywhere they like such that when rain falls, it moves them all thereby causing blockages.”

The recurrent issue of flooding is the communities have gone out of hand to cripple residents off a good standard of living.

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While the issue may appear stale even with the minimality of rainfall ever since September, residents are still yet to recover from their huge loss and are apprehensive of a repeat of the flood.

“Whenever rain falls, all my properties such as my plasma tv, radio, shelves are ruined completely. I am not very buoyant to make a decision to leave my home, and considering the outrageous fees demanded by agents, it is enough to keep us where we are. We can’t afford to sleep whenever these rains fall.

"We sleep in it and wake up the following day to continue to scoop water from our homes. The government should come to our aid as we are still trying to recover from the flooding issue in 2018—where it had all started again,” a victim of the flood at Oke Bola said.

Another affected victim in Oke-Ado who preferred to remain anonymous added, “We were all affected by the flood. It has been two days since the rain fell, but I can’t open my shop because all my carpentry tools have been destroyed by the rain. There has been poor maintenance on the part of the government.

"The drainage cannot flow properly because of the wrong construction of the road and the bridge that lies ahead. We fear that we may continue to have to live with this when it happens again.”

Topics
Environment