Cars and houses submerged in water, residents who walk to their knees while on public transport, and homeowners who are already calculating their losses – this is a common sight in an African city.
Welcome to Lagos during the rainy season.
Residents of Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, are accustomed to the annual floods that flood the city from March to November. However, this July, Lagos’ main business district suffered the worst floods in years.
One of the workers there said not only that it was very severe, but also that the floods were of unusual intensity. One night he tries to return home, but due to the incoming water, the traffic is heavy. He realizes that something unusual is happening when the water reaches the height of the hood and begins to enter the cabin.
Photos and videos on social media show at least a dozen cars submerged after heavy rains. Floods paralyze economic activity, with losses estimated at $ 4 billion a year.
Lagos, a city in the lower coastal parts of the country, is home to 24 million people, but could become uninhabitable by the end of the century.
If climate change continues to cause floods, computer-generated models indicate that the city will become depopulated. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the drainage system of Lagos is old, poorly maintained and does not correspond to the huge expansion of the city. And even more devastating floods are expected in September.
The truth is that the coast of Lagos is eroding. The city is built both on solid ground and on several coastal islands, which makes it extremely vulnerable to floods. And the latter are becoming more common, thanks to human activity and climate change caused by it.
Environmental experts are adamant that in the case of Lagos, sand mining is a major contributor to coastal erosion. According to them, the banks of the Lagos River, which runs along the island of Victoria, are now almost completely washed away.
The rising water level is engulfing the earth.
Victoria Island itself is a wealthy neighborhood of the city, built on soil restored by the Atlantic Ocean. Expensive properties there are yet to be protected from increasingly threatening waters by an eight-kilometer wall made of concrete blocks.
However, the restoration of land from the sea can endanger the surrounding areas and especially the coastal areas. Other critics of the project believe that neighboring areas of Lagos, which are not protected by protective walls, will become even more vulnerable to tidal waves.
Low-lying coastal cities in some parts of the world could be completely submerged by 2100, experts say. Their study was published in Climate Central and also states that settlements could fall below the low tide if sea levels continue to rise.
Thus, by 2100, areas with up to 200 million inhabitants could be permanently under water and below the low tide.
This is the result of pollution, climate change, rising temperatures and sea levels, and in just three decades we can see annual floods flooding the inhabited land. By the end of the century, the world’s oceans are expected to rise by two meters.
For this reason, Lagos finds itself in an extremely delicate position, as the city itself is about 2 meters above sea level.
According to a 2012 study by the University of Plymouth, rising seawater by 1 to 3 meters will have a catastrophic effect on the Nigerian coast. Experts believe that it is only a matter of time before nature takes off.
And the annual floods in Lagos are already taking their toll, and in 2020 alone, 2 million people were affected by the floods. At least 69 people have lost their lives in the past year, and in 2019 158 people died.
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But climate change is not the only cause of the deadly floods in Lagos, whose streets and drainage systems have been fatally congested.
Many of the videos on social platforms show that clogged street shafts are a systematic problem that helps the city to flood. In addition, sinking buildings need to be tackled mainly by slums built on precarious and damp soil.
Experts are convinced that in order for Lagos to remain above water, it must adapt to climate change. The entire infrastructure needs to be reviewed and upgraded, including drainage systems, landfills and housing.
How resilient these elements will be will determine how well the city will withstand floods.
Authorities in Lagos are already clearing the canals to mitigate the effects of the incoming water. The Nigerian president has already stressed that the country will also rely on international aid from the United States and President Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, the Nigerian authorities’ response to the disaster remains relatively weak.
And the private sector has yet to get involved in trying to reduce the effects of climate change and follow the recommendations issued by the Nigerian Ministry of the Environment.
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