The Ogun State Government has urged residents living along river banks areas across the state to vacate their homes for safety.

This will be the third flood alert this year, as part of government effort to mitigate flooding in the state.

The affected areas are Akute; Alagbole; Isheri; Magboro;Makogi; Orimerunmu; Iro; Kajola.

Other areas are Lafenwa; Enugada;Adedotun; Iberekodo; Akin-Olugbade and Ago-Odo to prepare for overflow of Ogun River in the next two weeks.

In the latest flood alert released on Monday by the state Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, the overflow from Ogun River would rise as a result of controlled release of water from Oyan Dam due to heavy rainfall from up-north.

This would increase the volume of water reaching the Dam from that part of the country which would be compounded by increase in tidal level.

According to the Commissioner, the increase in the waterflow into the dam would inevitably force the release of water from the dam that would affect the areas.

He urged residents of the areas to exercise caution and avoid loss of lives and property within the period.

Oresanya further emphasised the need for residents of the areas to avoid the riverbank while those in the wetlands should move to higher grounds or elevate their stay for now as the overflow becomes inevitable.

He added that as part of the mitigating plans, the state government had continuously dredged and opened up more tributaries for Ogun River to ease the pressure of the overflow on residents in collaboration with the Ogun Osun River Basin Authority -owners of Oyan Dam who have continually ensured a controlled release of water from the dam throughout the year”

Oresanya equally noted that at this period last year, the volume of water released from the dam was over 17,000 million litres per day as against over 12,000 million litres per day at this period despite the heavy rainfall signalling painstaking efforts at controlled release of water from the dam this year.

He therefore enjoined residents of the areas not to panic as the tide will go down in about ten days as the mitigating measures from the state government cannot stop the activities of nature as the impact of climate change is felt more by the state as one of the coastal states in Nigeria.

The Commissioner further revealed that the state is also a gateway or an outlet to empty the waterflow from Northern part of the country into the lagoon.

He therefore used the opportunity to once again called on fish farmers in the area to harvest their fishes if they have not done so in order to avoid inevitable losses. (Nigerian Tribune)