LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has issued an advisory cautioning residents, motorists, teachers and school proprietors, among others, on the need to exercise restraint during and after downpour.
The Lagos Coordinator of NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, in a statement on 27 April, urged school proprietors and teachers to keep pupils under their custody for 30 minutes after rainfall for the flash flood to subside.
He added that after the flash flood subsides, it becomes safe for the pupils to ply various roads to navigate their way home.
Farinloye said: “Residents of Lagos State are enjoined to take utmost precautions to avoid dangers as a result of torrential rainfall being witnessed presently.
“School proprietors and teachers are highly advised to keep the children under their custody till 30 minutes after the rainfall before the children should be released.
“This is to safeguard the children from playing in the rainwater on their way home. After the flashing flooding, which will not last beyond 30 minutes, it will be safe for the children to find their way home.
“Drivers are hereby warned to exercise patience as highways have been blocked. People should avoid taking refuge in makeshift shelters as the place can be washed off by floods.”
Farinloye highlighted that NEMA and other stakeholders had been stationed on the highways to monitor and respond to any distress situation that may arise during the torrential rainfall in the state.
The torrential rainfall witnessed in parts of Lagos state on 27 April, left many roads, houses and shops flooded.
Punch reports that, the situation caused gridlock that left many motorists and commuters stranded for hours on major roads in the metropolis.
Roads both on the Island and Mainland sides of the state were flooded during the rainfall.
In the Mainland, roads were flooded in the Ikeja, Ogba, Agege, Abule-Egba, Iyana-Ipaja, Meiran and Egbeda-Idimu areas of the State.
While traffic on some of the roads was standstill during the downpour, some others witnessed slow movement as motorists struggle to wade through the flood.