Windstorm ravages Lagos streets, wrecks 400 buildings

No fewer than 400 buildings have been wrecked, while thousands of residents are rendered homeless, after a windstorm ravaged some streets in Papa Ashafa/Dopemu in the Orile-Agege area of Lagos State.

The incident was said to have happened around 4.30pm on Monday.

It was gathered that cars parked on the roads were damaged as concrete electric poles fell on them in the gale that swept through at least 20 streets.

Our correspondent, who went round some of the streets, observed that private and public school buildings in the area were damaged.

According to witnesses, some pupils of the schools escaped death by a whisker.

A church building on OpeOlu Street was uprooted and dumped on another residential building.

Many of the residents were sighted by our correspondent lamenting their losses and said they slept on the road with their children.

Some of the affected streets include Abibatu, Opeifa, Fabowale, Kushoro, Opeolu, Bakare Opesha, Sura Ogunmakin, Igbayilola, Akintunde, Alafia, Sadiku, Ebun, Ayeni, Oyewole, Adewunmi Adebiyi, Oyewole Close, Oyewole Road and Alafia Close.

A resident on Opeolu Street, Bridget Isiaka, said she was feeding her baby when the incident happened.

She said, “I saw that something was moving the bed and my baby and I was wondering what was going on. When I saw the storm, I shouted for help. The roof was lifted up by the storm.”

A trader, Mrs. Balogun Labake, said that the windstorm had destroyed all her property.

“I saw the thing rolling towards us with full force. It pulled the bed from underneath us. As we were about running away, the force blocked us from going out. It destroyed all our property and damaged the roofing sheets,” she said.

A resident on Abibatu Street, Mrs. Olayemi Olawode, said since she arrived in the area more than 20 years ago, she had never witnessed such disaster.

Olawode said although many houses on her street were affected, she was lucky that the storm only took away a few of her roofing sheets which she had replaced.

But the same was not true for Mrs. Nike Olusanaya, a civil servant resident on Okubanjo Street.

We saw on Tuesday that the disaster had rendered the mother of four children homeless as her single-room apartment was blown apart.

“We have nowhere to stay again. We have been carrying our loads around and begging people to house us. The windstorm threw the ceiling of our room far away. I slept outside with my kids,” she said.

Modupe Akinfenwa, a tailor, said she was locked out by fellow tenants in the stampede that followed the disaster.

It was observed that about four electric poles had been pulled down on the road and part of the area was cordoned off for safety by the police.

One of the electric poles was said to have crashed into a nursery and primary school in the area, Geedee Montessori Schools.

The headmistress of the school, Mrs Ayeni Oluremi, told our correspondent that the more than 200 pupils of the school held one hour thanksgiving on the assembly on Tuesday.

She said, “The incident happened exactly 4.30pm. The children closed from school at 4pm, and after that, they gathered outside.

“The school bus was coming to pick them in groups. There were still 12 of them remaining when it began to drizzle and suddenly, the asbestos of the school began to fall off. I took them inside. Just then, I saw the wind snapping the poles and tearing the cables apart.

“It was a few minutes after that that the school bus arrived to take them. The pole fell where we usually park the bus. It was God. We celebrated this morning and spent one hour on the assembly.”

Another private school, Al-Baraka Schools on Oshundairo Street had some parts of the buildings damaged, while a public primary school, Oyewole Primary School on Oyewole Road had its wall broken down.

State Junior High School and Christfield Comprehensive College, both on Oyewole Road had their roofing sheets blown away.

Tragedy was averted on Opeolu after an Assembly of God Church structure atop a residential building was careened away to another building opposite it.

A tailor living in the house where the church was, Mr. Segun Toyin, said, “There were five of us around that time. My four friends, who were outside, suddenly ran into the shop and said there was an earthquake. A few minutes later, the wind took off the building.”

A lodger in the house where the church building landed, Ebenezer Omileke, said he believed it was a hurricane that ravaged the area.

He said the church structure first landed on the roof of their building, before the storm lifted it to the store behind the building.

Our correspondent observed that carpenters in the area had a busy day fixing the roofs of some of the buildings.

One of the carpenters, Ayo Quadri, said the storm had improved his business.

He said, “This is the third house I will be repairing today. Although nobody prays for something bad, but this has improved business for us.”

It was learnt that some officials of the Lagos State Government came to the area to assess the level of damage. They were said to be led by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed and the Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Kayode Opeifa.

The South West Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Bandele Onimode, advised residents of the state to build houses to standards.

He said, “What happened here was not a human-induced disaster; it was natural. The storm was only passing through its normal route.

“The government can only ensure that houses are built to standards and when new houses are going to be erected, people should assess the environment to ensure that buildings are not facing the direction of wind.”

The General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the state government had opened a relief camp to temporarily accommodate some of the residents.

He said, “The governor has directed that the relief camp at Igando be opened to those that are displaced.

“The camp is to provide an alternative, instead of sleeping outside.”