Motorists, Residents Lament as Flood Submerges Lagos Roads

Several parts of Lagos State were submerged on Tuesday morning following heavy rainfall that began in the early hours of the day.

The flooding occurred weeks after similar downpours destroyed properties worth millions of naira in Ikorodu and other parts of the state.

On Tuesday, major roads and residential areas including Ago Palace Way in Okota, Ikorodu, Akowonjo, and Lekki were covered by floodwaters, disrupting movement and leaving residents stranded.

A viral video showed Alhaji Idowu Street in Akowonjo completely submerged. A resident lamented: “This is just three hours of rain, and everywhere is flooded. When it is not as if the people living here are not humans. This is just too bad.”

In Okota, motorists were forced to drive slowly through floodwaters on the busy Ago Palace Way, while videos from Osapa London in Lekki showed roads linking several estates overtaken by water.

A resident, identified as Mustapha, said the flooding prevented him from leaving home.
“When the rain started this morning, I knew there was no going out for me today. There were some points in the flood where the water would almost flow into your vehicle, and I couldn’t take that risk. Even Uber drivers don’t want to come here because of the damage the flood does to their vehicles,” he said.

Pedestrians and motorists were also trapped in gridlock across several flooded highways as some vehicles broke down in the waterlogged areas.

Another commuter, Mojisola Ajisafe, recounted how flooding disrupted movement along the Agege–Ogba–Wempco Road.
“The T-junction by the Mobil filling station was heavily flooded. Some vehicles did not move at all until the water reduced, except for SUVs and commercial buses. This caused a lot of traffic and made me resume late to the office,” she said.

In Ikorodu, residents shared videos of flooded communities, while commercial drivers in Egbeda–Idimu called for urgent government intervention.
One of them, Saheed, said: “This is not the first time we are complaining about flooding in this area. It is already getting out of hand. The government needs to find a permanent solution.”

The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, had earlier explained that while the government had resilient systems in place to manage flash floods, Lagos remains highly vulnerable due to its coastal nature.

“As a coastal city, Lagos is naturally vulnerable to tidal lock-up when rising water levels in the lagoon slow down the discharge of runoff. This is further worsened by climate change,” Wahab said in a post on August 4.

As of press time, efforts to reach the ministry’s spokesperson, Adekunle Adeshina, were unsuccessful as calls were not answered and a text message sent to his phone had yet to be replied to.