Floods hit estate in Abuja, houses, vehicles submerged

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Houses and vehicles have been inundated as a result of flash floods in Abuja’s Trademore Estate in Lugbe.

The estate dwellers in Lugbe along Airport Road in the nation’s capital were once again flooded by an early morning rain, which inundated houses and automobiles.

The rain which started around 9 am on Friday caused a traffic jam as residents were trapped in their houses.

Although no life was lost, the Chairman of the residents association, Mr Adewale Adenaike said the association was worried that the flash floods had become an annual occurrence within the estate.

The FCT Emergency Management Agency advised residents to avoid driving on flowing water whenever it rained.

Speaking to media, the agency’s Director, Forecasting, Response and Mitigation, Florence Wenegieme, said owners of houses built on the waterway should vacate their locations.

“If you realise that your house was built on a waterway, please leave that location and move to higher ground. Thank God we are Africans, we have friends and relatives.

“Please, don’t insist that you must live there because you paid for that house. If you know you are living in a house that is built in a flood-prone area, kindly move to a safer place,” she said.

Trademore Estate has been ravaged by floods during previous rainy seasons with the FCT Administration repeatedly promising to mitigate the flood, only for the disaster to continue to reoccur annually.

A similar flood in 2022 claimed three lives.