By Bisola Adeyemo
Following an intense flood disaster that ravaged Lugbe Estate on Sunday night, residents have sought permanent solutions from government to avert future occurrences.
The estate which located along airport road Lugbe, Abuja was ravaged by flood on Sunday rendering many occupants homeless.
Speaking with NatureNews on Saturday, Engineer Uchechukwu Moses, Trademore phase 2 chairman, who also experienced the terrible flood in his house, lamented that flood happens in the estate annually but the last incident was the most disastrous.
He said “Trademore estate happen to be part of the first estate built in Lugbe but the drainage we have is not wide enough to accumulate water, making it too difficult for water to flow freely.
‘’It was also mentioned to us that on that day, a dam was opened somewhere around but we don’t have enough information on that. Because the rain that fell that day was not enough to generate that volume of water.”
While calling on the government for a better solution, Engr Uchechukwu, said the government should support the developer to address the issue as quickly as possible
“Though we are doing our best against another flood by cleaning some clogged drainages, but we want the government to intervene without any delay,’’ he said.
A resident, who also anonymously spoke with NatureNews on Wednesday morning said the actual cause of the flood was unknown to anyone because the rain lasted only 2 hours.
“In my opinion, the structure of the estate was not planned well. A bridge for erosion is supposed to be straight up for easy water flowing, but here the bridge is bent faces another direction.
“For a better solution to avert future occurrences houses around the bridge including shops, should be demolished and the bridge should be restructured,” he added.
Another resident, Engr Adebayo Ademola also stated that the major cause of the flood is the water coming from outside the estates passing through the estate to another location.
He said, “the capacity of the estate drainage cannot handle such water coming from nearby community like Lokogoma, Kabusa, and other areas. Also, some of the houses, especially the one built close to the entrance of the estate is on the waterway which the government had marked for demolition time without number.
“Many houses built by the developer are not high enough meaning poor design for such big community.
“The houses on water way should be relocated to a new place. Government should not demolish houses without a good plan to relocate the affected houses.
“Government should do better in backing their promises with immediate action, not just coming for visit,” he added.