The heavy rainfall that occurred overnight on Sunday until Monday has caused a river to flood the old Afa Bridge on Agric-Isawo Road in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State. Vehicle owners and pedestrians have been stranded.
At 7 am on Monday, the bridge was still passable, but as the rainfall persisted until late in the evening, the Afa River overflowed, preventing crossings.
HiTech Construction Company owned by Lebanese-Nigerian Gilbert Chagoury, a longtime ally of President Bola Tinubu, has been constructing the road for over five years, using interlocking concrete block pavement (ICBP).
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As part of the project, the contractor is building an elevated bridge beside the old, ground-level bridge used by road users over the river. The engineering contractor has yet to complete the new bridge.
The high volume of rainwater flooded the old bridge and extended several metres on both sides, disrupting the business of plank sellers and petty traders nearby.
As a temporary measure, the contractor built wooden staircases for pedestrians to use the under-construction bridge. But for vehicle owners, they have been cut off from driving to their various homes in Igboolomu and Isawo respectively.
I visited the scene on Tuesday and witnessed the hurdles residents were going through to cross the bridge. Residents coming from Igboolomu Junction were alighting from taxis and climbing the wooden staircases. The climbing was visibly difficult for older people.
Despite the chaos, the people organised themselves. On both sides, they were queuing to make the crossing less problematic and special attention was given to people with mobility challenges, including people with disabilities.
As is common to Nigerians in such a situation, collective care becomes a necessity. Some said, “Easy ó,” to those climbing down or up ahead of them. Others uttered statements like “Small small”, “Don’t fall o” and “Hold something o” just to ensure everyone was safety-conscious as they walk on the delicate plywood-made staircases.
The staircases helped pedestrians cross to either side, but vehicle owners had no luck at all. Some vehicles were even grounded in the middle of the flood.
Not less than five vehicles had become immobile in the brown-coloured floodwater as their owners waited patiently for the water to recede. A few people who could not climb the elevated bridge took the risk of walking through the flood with trousers rolled up above their knees.
Motorcycle owners dragged their machines through the flood. Even though the water pressure was aggressive, it took two people to drag a motorcycle across the flooded bridge.
As everyone looked on, a man, whose confidence met the cheering of onlookers, soon found himself flat in the water.
With his seemingly new TVS motorcycle standing on a working mode, the man observed the flow of the water, confident that he could ride across it. Some people cheered him on.
“His machine is water-resistant. It likes water,” a man standing beside me claimed while others chorused, “Go! Don’t look back!”
A few metres into the flood on his first two attempts, the bike man turned back. On his third attempt, he had gone beyond those few metres when he fell into the quietly moving water and got separated from the motorcycle.
Had a young man not quickly stepped into the water to lift him and his motorcycle, he could have been thrown into the riverway.
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This situation was not without financial implications on the residents. Before the flood, a trip from Agric Bus Stop to Igboolomu Junction or Isawo usually cost N300 and and N400 respectively.
Despite the fact that vehicles could not cross the bridge, transporters were still charging N300 for a trip from Agric. When passengers cross to the other side of the bridge, they would have to take another tricycle to Igboolomu Junction for N100 or N200 to Isawo.
Some distance from the bridge, two excavators could be seen on the river bank clearing the riverway. At the time I left the place, the excavators were still at the site because they had not succeeded in diverting the water.
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