Safety Tipps: How to Prevent Flooding Around You This Season

It is quite a scene around Lagos especially Lagos Island axis and its
environs, where a number of houses, roads, vehicles have been submerged
by water due to the heavy downpour of rain. While this is not a strange
sight across riverine areas, it is necessary to take precautionary
methods to prevent reoccurrence.  These areas have always been prone to
flooding, yet little or no intervention has been done to get it
curtailed. During the rainy seasons, there are inconveniences that
disrupt life’s activities; no power supply, heavy road traffic, and
people meeting their water loo as they struggle for their daily bread.
Water! Water! Far and wide, not a Drop Meant For Drinking!!!
There
are economic implications, medical repercussions, sociological effects
and financial impacts of the consistent flooding in Lagos. People are
forced to stay indoors, or risk their source of income, and/or dare the
consequences of sojourning out for sustenance.
Here are steps to take to prevent flooding, as it is obvious that this rain is here to stay:

• Construction
  and Expansion of Drainage System, Canals: When Late Fela Kuti bellowed
  out: WATER NO GET ENEMY. He probably had not experienced abysmal
  flooding as this year’s. Water can ruin and destroy your homes and
  properties. Drainage system and Canals are essential parts of urban
  living. Build a good drainage facility that can help to guide water flow
  away from residential areas to the right channels. Canals are
  artificial water channels that helps to prevent flooding.
• Clearance
  of Drainages: A lot of our drainages are not well managed.  Clear out
  garbage, debris and solid waste that clod your gutters, canals and
  others. Do not wait till it’s the mandatory environmental sanitation
  exercises before you tidy up your homes and drainages. Avoid littering
  everywhere with rubbish, as all litters eventually piles up to cause a
  disturbance in water progression.
• Gather Rain Water: A simple solution that can easily be taken for granted; Fetch rain water!
  A lot of people would probably hiss at this skeptical advice,
  nevertheless, this controlled collection of rain water helps to deal
  with flooding. Do not gather rain water for drinking purposes except
  maybe if treated. Hence, On Your Mark, Get your buckets, basins, wells,
  building ponds, flood controlled dams, storm drains and gather as much
  rain water as you can.
• Plant a Rain Garden: There is always a
  little green in every rain. Use this opportunity to beautify your
  landscape. Rain Gardens protect water quality. Its helps in controlling
  and preventing floods. It is a planted depression and inexpensive. Areas
  around your home you discovered receives water from possibly hard
  surfaces like the rooftops are the best spots. You can always search for
  ornamental plants, herbs that are water tolerant, absorbent. You can
  create a little drainage round the edges of the garden to prevent over
  flooding of the plants.