Rainstorm destroys houses, renders Lagos, Ogun families homeless

The National Emergency Management Agency has confirmed that no fewer than 336 families and 228 buildings were affected by wind and rainstorms that wreaked havoc in various communities in Lagos State on May 1 and 15, 2023.

The Lagos Coordinator, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, while confirming the development in a statement on Monday, said no casualty or fatality was recorded during the rainstorm.

He, however, urged members of the public to exercise restraint on their activities, especially during working hours.

Farinloye said, “An assessment by NEMA has shown that some houses have been impacted to various degrees across Lagos State. On May 1 and 15, 2023, serious wind/rainstorms without any casualty or fatality but with attendant damages to public and private buildings were recorded.

“The agency assessed Agboyi One, Agboyi Two, Agboyi Three, and Odo-Ogun communities in the Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, and about 130 houses were either partially or fully affected with about 228 families involved. The incident occurred on May 1, 2023.

“The incident on May 15, 2023, affected about 98 buildings in Agege, Ifako Ijaye, Ikola, Isale Aboru and Oke Isegun located in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, with about 108 families affected. About 13 electricity poles were affected in the areas.”

Farinloye urged Nigerians to exercise restraint on their activities, especially during working hours.

“Children must not be allowed to play outside or sent on errands hours before rainfall. School authorities must be protective and train the children to hide under their furniture to protect them from the effect of falling objects. We must avoid taking refuge under temporary structures and trees,” he added.

Meanwhile, in the Arepo community of the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, Ogun State, landlords, residents and business owners have been thrown into confusion after rainstorm destroyed roofs of structures including shopping complexes, a school, a church, and a petrol station in the community.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the roofs of the factories of some companies located opposite Arepo, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, were also damaged by the rainstorm that started around 2am on Monday.

While assessing the situation in the community, our correspondent observed that the rainstorm damaged the canopy of the petrol station at the Arepo junction and also uprooted various signposts erected close to the premises.

A newspaper vendor, while lamenting the development without disclosing his name to our correspondent for fear of victimisation, said the rain had been falling since Sunday.

He said, “The breeze during the rainfall damaged the canopy of the Arepo filling station. If you go inside the Arepo community, you will see how the breeze from the rainfall destroyed the roofs and fences of buildings.

 “The breeze pulled down the fence of a company in Arepo and also affected the roofs of companies opposite the community. If the rainstorm was during the day, it will cause more harm. The rain started falling yesterday, stopped in the evening and continued around 2am on Monday.”

Speaking with our correspondent, a welder, who gave his name as Alfa, and also lives in the Arepo community, said the rainstorm destroyed the roof of his flat, adding that he and his family members were sleeping when the incident happened.

He said, “The rainstorm started around 2am. My family and I were sleeping when we suddenly heard a loud sound. The cause of the sound was that the rainstorm lifted something I want to believe was a roof and it landed on the roof of our building and destroyed the slate.

“The impact of the incident made water start dropping from the ceiling and we started placing buckets at the spots that are leaking in our flat. We could not sleep again.”

During an on-the-spot-assessment, our correspondent also observed that the roofs of buildings including the ROA Hospital’s Shopping Complex, the Garden Park and Hotel, the Open Doors Assembly church, government school, among others were damaged.

Some of the electricity poles along Palace Road in the Arepo community were also observed to have been slanted, causing the wires to be on the ground in the area.