From 8th Friday to Sunday 10th July, Lagos was hit by heavy and perennial rainfall that fell continuously for no less than 8- 10 hours over the weekend. One of the natural and inevitable consequences of such heavy down power was the flooding in many areas of the state and damage of property as well as loss of lives in a number of places. [/b]Cynically seizing on this occurrence as an opportunity to play politics, the media team of [b]the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Dr Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, issued a statement not only subtly blaming the state government for the flood but purportedly claimed that he was setting up a Disaster Recovery Team across the state to come to the aid of flood victims.
According to the statement, “Jandor has reached out to some of the victims earlier in the week, but the situation became worrisome today with the torrential rain that has lasted for about 7 hours. It is disheartening to see the good people of the state suffer such neglect and huge discomfort. This disaster is preventable and avoidable at least to the bearable minimum”.
What exactly does this mean? Does Jandor know the difference between flooding and flash flooding? Did he ask his team to undertake the.necessary research before issuing the statement that amounted to political grandstanding and a display of comical ignorance? surely, more more is expected from one who aspires to become the governor of Lagos State and must be known to be diligent, profound, meticulous and refraining at all from frivolity in his public discourse.
Jandor himself in his statement admits that there was “torrential rain that has lasted for about seven hours”. The question is, for how long did flood water remain on the streets and drains across the state when the rain eventually stopped? The flood water had subsided and cleared within 24 and at most 48 hours in heavily hit areas. This is a natural and routine occurrence in several especially low-lying areas across the world both in developed and underdeveloped countries.
What does Jandor really know about Lagos? Is he aware of the relationship between the geographical location of Lagos relative to the sea and the vulnerability of many parts of the state to flooding? Experts estimate that Lagos is less than two meters above sea level and that some parts of the state may well be below sea level. That means that flooding is a phenomenon that the state must continue to cope with even as it strives to continue to improve on the knowledge, skills and technology to mitigate its effects.
According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, “Over the last 30 years, urban flooding, a natural disaster in many parts of the world, has continued to rear its ugly head. Across both developed and developing countries, flooding has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced about 650 million”.
Wikipedia explains further that flash flooding occurs when heavy rainfall exceeds the ability of the ground to absorb it and that flooding is a longer term event that may last days or weeks while flash flooding, which is caused by heavy rainfall, lasts for a short period of time generally less than 6 hours. It also noted that “Flooding along rivers is a natural and inevitable part of life. Some floods occur seasonally when winter or spring rains, coupled with melting snows, fill river basins with too much water too quickly”.
So does Jandor intend to magically elevate Lagos much higher above the sea level if he is lucky to become governor? Or will he relocate the state away from the sea and the lagoon? Had the PDP candidate done his research as expected of a serious politician who aspires to occupy an office as critical as the governor of Lagos State, he would have discovered that the kind of flash floods experienced in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria is a frequent phenomenon across the world.
Again, for instance, Wikipedia reports that “In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage. The floods started in the United Kingdom as flash floods causing some property damage and inconvenience. Later floods affected several river basins across Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg,the Netherlands and Switzerland. At least 243 people died in the floods including 196 in Germany, 43 in Belgium, two in Romania, one in Italy and one in Austria”.
Other well documented incidents of flooding include a stormy weather which affected several areas of Poland including the cities of Warsaw, Krakow and Pozna? and flash flooding in some parts of western Poland on June 22, 2021, after 60mm of rain fell in just one hour that day.
And in China, the country has this year experienced its heaviest rains since 1961 with downpours causing serious floods and landslides. In July 2022, London was hit by two serious flash floods just two weeks apart.Some parts of the city reportedly received more than twice the average monthly rainfall in just two hours with the floods causing massive disruption with homes and properties flooded by rainwater and sewage.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0