The flood came swiftly, with the merciless precision of a guillotine. One moment, the Trademore Estate in Abuja was as it should be; the next, water had engulfed it, swallowing homes.
For Obasi Chibueze, the estate’s vigilant security guard, the morning of June 24th began with a routine chore, but it quickly unravelled into a nightmare he had never imagined.
“That day, I woke up early in the morning to open the gate. I saw water coming out of the small river within the trademore estate. Within 5 minutes, it has filled and covered the gate and many houses, particularly houses in Lugard street were very much affected,” he told EcoPivot.
Chibueze’s words carried the weight of the destruction that followed. The water, indifferent to the lives it disrupted, surged through the streets, tearing through homes as easily as paper.
As the waters rose, Chibueze found himself in the midst of chaos, helping frantic residents push their cars to higher ground, a futile attempt to salvage what little they could from the unyielding deluge. “It spoiled a lot of things,” he muttered, the understatement laced with the gravity of a tragedy that words could scarcely capture.
In the aftermath, as the waters receded and the sun began to claw its way through the sullen clouds, the true scale of the disaster became evident. Houses, once homes filled with memories, were now hollow shells, stripped of their essence by the unrelenting flood. A gas seller, who once greeted Chibueze with a smile each morning, had packed up and left, vowing never to return.
Growing crisis
Flooding in Abuja, the federal capital of Nigeria, is a growing crisis with severe consequences. According to a 2022 report by the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), over 80 percent of flood-prone areas in Abuja, including estates like Trademore, experience significant flooding during rainy season.
This occurrence has been linked to inadequate urban planning, where developments often proceed without considering flood risks, and natural waterways are obstructed by construction projects.
‘Twice a year’
Many days later, what struck Chibueze the most was not the flood itself but the eerie familiarity with which the residents spoke of it. He learned, with a mix of disbelief and anger, that this was no freak occurrence. “It was a yearly thing, sometimes happening once or twice a year,” he said, “I suspect the bridge in the area may have a hand in pushing the water to the estate.”
The bridge had become the epicenter of the estate’s woes, he said. With the insight of someone who had seen the destruction firsthand, Chibueze was convinced that the bridge’s flawed design was to blame.
“The bridge needs to be more balanced and reconstructed,” he said, his tone urgent, as if the words themselves could somehow stave off the next disaster. “The focus of the government should be on that bridge. It is skewed. If the bridge were straight, it would solve many of the problems we are facing. Let them make the bridge wide with no corner-corner.”
His words echoed the sentiments of many within the estate, who had long seen the bridge as a ticking time bomb, waiting to unleash its destructive force with each rainy season.
Victor Osaze, a lawyer who had called the estate home for over a decade, had been at the forefront of efforts to push for a solution. But his attempts, like those of many others, had fallen on deaf ears.
“There is no quick fix,” Osaze told EcoPivot, his frustration palpable. “I also don’t believe that demolition is the solution. There is a need for a holistic engineering framework. When a bridge is constructed in such a skewed manner, you are creating problems for the water. And instead of running its natural course, it becomes turbulent. This is a small problem that can actually be taken care of.”
Osaze said there are also psychological scars that festered long after the waters had dried up. “We are all human beings. We feel something. The pain of seeing a house you have worked hard to build being destroyed in your presence could leave you shattered mentally. People have lost a huge sum of money, they have lost food, businesses, even some families in this estate lost children in past flooding.”