Following last Friday’s rain that wrecked havoc on many parts of Ogun state, the state government has warned residents to shun activities that impede the flow of water.
The warning was issued in a statement by the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ade Akinsanya, Monday.
The flood washed away some parts of the recently rehabilitated Opako bridge, along Panseke-Adigbe road in Abeokuta, the state capital.
The commissioner noted that but for the quality of work done on the road by the Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration; the ravaging flood would have sacked all the houses within the vicinity. He added that the bridge constructed by the state government stalled the impact of the flood.
He said the flow of water was so high but the bridge remained unscathed, and the part of the bridge washed away was as a result of the drainages built near the area, which people had filled with plastic and other wastes.
“Channels of water had been blocked by houses, thus raising the level of the flood. Waterways were blocked, but water will always find its level and, definitely, there is no asphalt that water cannot wash away if its volume is heavy.
“People should therefore dispose their wastes carefully and not invite flood. Those who took advantage of the long bamboos by the canal and filled it with the bamboos should be careful,” he said,
The statement added that the state government was already looking at the possibility of providing durable drainage by extending the ongoing construction work on the Panseke-Adigbe road to reach the popular Opako Bridge along Obada road.
This, it said, would put a permanent stop to the perennial destruction of the retaining walls on the busy bridge, due to lack of proper drainage.
As it noted, the original Panseke-Adigbe road project started but abandoned by the immediate past government was 500-metre short, with the intent to stop the new road around Alowonle area.
As at Saturday afternoon, engineers were at the bridge with excavators to put washed-off materials back in place so that the road may become motorable, pending the time when drainage work reaches the site.
While noting that flood is a natural phenomenon due to rapid urbanisation impeding waterways, the statement appealed to road users and residents to cooperate with the engineers on site while they carried out their duties in reasonable time.
