MY FLOOD EXPERIENCE by Miss Grace Isaac Iquot

 

Over the years, I had often read in newspapers about calamities caused by flooding and it usually sounded fictional because I had not witnessed a real-life scenario. Looking back now, I think we often underrate some things to be grateful for. The reality of my experience was mind-numbing.

On Monday, 28^th June, 2021, I had left my workplace somewhat around 4:30pm hoping to get home early before it rained because it was cloudy.  Needless to say, the traffic that evening was terrible as everyone was trying to get home before the downpour. Unfortunately, it started raining before I arrived my destination. I had boarded a Safeboda bike but the rider had to end the trip because it was raining so hard that it started raining hailstones which I later learnt had not happened for many years back. By the time the rain stopped, it was 7:00pm and I was completely drenched from head to toe. I got another rider, this time a regular bike man, who I told I was going to Kuola. Mid-way, I saw a lot of cars turning back, so I asked the bike man what was wrong. Poor me! He didn’t speak English and his local dialect was Hausa. I got restless but allowed him to continue the trip. We got to the bridge before Adedayo Street when it dawned on me what exactly had happened. THE BRIGDE HAD BEEN OVERFLOODED! How do I get home? How did it start? Why are people not looking terrified? I had questions. Apparently, even with the intensity of the flood, a lot of people still walked through it. I am talking of floodwater that stopped at the waistline of a 5’6”. I saw some teens cutting pegs and I presumed it was to gain balance in the water. No way was I going to walk into that water, I knew better. The bike man pulled over and asked me to pay up. What! Why didn’t he tell me this was the situation? Well let’s just say he couldn’t communicate but why didn’t he take an accessible route? Why did he take me to see such a horrible sight? For the price we bargained? Before boarding the bike, I offered to pay him twice the regular price because I was in haste to get home plus it was getting dark. It was a tug of war between me and the bike man. I wasn’t going to pay him as bargained because I felt he was trying to milk the situation. Hello it’s 2021 and things are hard! Eventually, after much back and forth, we settled at a fee and I paid. I was on the lookout for another bike man that would take me through another route but first I needed to capture the moment. It was then I heard some older men and women cussing out loud. One of them said and I quote, “Ki omi ti e gbe eni kan lojo kan boya awon gofament ma bawa wa nkan se si.” An older man replied and said, “Ko ma ti e gbe eeyan, ki bridge yii wo patapata.” I tried to tell them not to wish bad on anything or anyone but I thought to myself that it was risky to calm an agitated person. In few minutes, a Toyota Corolla Sport drove into the flood water, got submerged, lo and behold the flood was sweeping it away. My heart skipped for a minute and other onlookers were shouting “Omi ti n gbe moto yen o.” Luckily for the driver, the bridge has an iron rail and the car got hooked at the end of the rail. It was scary and I had begun to tremble, so I walked a few kilometers away from the flood site, got a bike and left. As I fell asleep that night, I couldn’t stop thinking about the young man in the car that almost got swept away by the flood.

Tuesday, the flood waters had receded completely before daybreak. The plants around that area were completely swept off. It was almost like nothing existed there. I engaged the bike man I boarded to know if there was any casualty from the previous night and he said he hadn’t heard of any. Good news but WHAT IF?

 Miss Grace Isaac Iquot is undergoing her national service (NYSC) with the Environmental Safeguards Unit of Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP)