BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Notwithstanding the high casualty figures and wanton destruction of property of victims of Osun State flood disasters, most of the affected inhabitants of the communities are hell bent on not relocating from the flood-prone areas.
With their shelters and shops erected close to the river banks, they explained that their hope and survival lie in the red zones where some people get drowned with several others rendered homeless in the perennial flooding.
The people are arguably adamant to warnings by the state government and the persistent cautions by the meteorological agency on the impending danger that trail heavy thunderstorms and torrential rainfall in unsafe or flood prone areas.
While most tenants were reported to have parked out from their rented apartments in the dangerous terrains, house owners in the areas insisted that they could not abandon their houses because they had no alternative arrangements for shelter.
The houses in the affected parts of Osogbo, Iwo, Ikirun and Ilesa towns are still waterlogged with most of the victims’ belongings drenched with flood water.
When visited, The Point correspondent saw soaked mattresses, sets of furniture, electronics and other items littering the communities.
Shop owners said that they found it difficult to vacate the areas because of the commercial consideration.
According to some of the traders in the communities, getting other places to ply their trades might be very difficult.
On their own part, those living in the plains said that they were already used to the challenges and that leaving their shelters might be out of the way for them without an alternative place where they can live.
On August 3, no fewer than four persons reportedly lost their lives to flood in Osogbo while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.
The perimeter fence of the Osun State Government House at GRA, Osogbo, reportedly collapsed as a result of the flooding.
The affected residents of Osogbo have yet to recover from the reported cases of death, destruction, dislocation and losses of property occasioned by the flood disaster.
Checks by The Point revealed that some victims, who were forced to abandon their homes and shops to temporary shelters after the August 3 flood disaster, had since returned to their various shelters.
Recalling their ordeals, the affected residents said that they had no choice than to face the risk and hope that succour would come their way someday.
In an interview, the landlord of a storey building at Rasco area of Osogbo, Dada Gbadegeshin, said he had no other house and could not imagine going to rent an apartment after struggling to build his own house.
Though, most of his tenants had parked out from the building due to incessant flood disasters, he insisted that he would not abandon the house.
However, he appealed to the state government to come to their aid by dredging the river channel at Rasco area of the city in order to pave the way for free flow of water during the raining season to avert flooding.
“I still live in my house because I have nowhere else to go. I can’t rent an apartment after so many years of being in my own house. I am a retiree. I want the state government to assist us in widening the water ways in order to prevent flood,” he said.
A trader in the area, who simply identified himself as Chike, said that the Rasco/Old Garage area was good for business and to get a shop within the vicinity was an uphill task.
“This place is good for sales and that’s why we are still here. We had lost goods worth millions of naira to flooding. We want government to help us by doing something to avert the problem. I am still managing this shop because I have no other place where I can ply my trade and make good sales,” Chike said.
Some aggrieved residents accused the state government of ignoring the ‘save our souls’ letters that they wrote to demand for the channelisation of the flood plains for easy flow of water, especially during the raining season.
At Oke-Baale area of Osogbo, the people alleged that the state government did not heed the plea by residents of the area for the construction of a bigger culvert to allow for free flow of water in the area.
According to them, they had been subjected to the danger of flooding since the channelization that was carried when a major road construction project was done some years ago.
In an interview with The Point, Moshood Babatunde, a landlord in the area, whose house was submerged by flood recently, said that several letters had been written to the state Ministry of Works but nothing was done to address the situation.
Babatunde said, “There is no other place for us to go. This is the only house that I have. I live here with my wife and children. Yes, we have lost a lot to flooding but we are helpless. Some of my tenants packed out because of flooding and nobody wants to rent the vacant apartment. The government has failed to erect a bigger culvert across the river.”
On the impacts of flooding in parts of the state, the state government has appealed to the Federal Government for support through prompt release of ecological fund to the state to forestall environmental disaster.
The Commissioner for Works and Transport, Remi Omowaiye, during an assessment of the flooded areas and waterways, urged the Federal Government to come to the rescue of the state from incessant death and destructions arising from flooding.
He said that the state embarked on some palliative measures by clearing the debris along the waterways. However, he said that there was an urgent need for a holistic approach to tackle the menace.
“We should know that the volume of rainfall this year is massive. We have looked at the affected places and we know the solutions required. It requires a holistic approach, which we are going to work on. The Rasco Bridge, for instance, was done under the ecological project a few years back. This (widening of river and water ways) is not what the state government can afford. So, we call on the Federal Government to come to our aid.
“As you can see, a lot of buildings are on the waterways, so, they have to go. This is an emergency. In 2015 and 2016, the state did a lot of projects through the ecological fund and we are calling on the Federal Government again,” Omowaiye said.
