Ondo State government has assured residents of Ondo Town of its readiness to permanently check flooding in the area.
Flash flood had ravaged Ondo Town on Friday, leading to loss of property worth millions of naira.
Special Adviser to the governor on Works and Infrastructure, Mr Ayo Babalola said the state government is on top of the situation.
He spoke on Saturday when he inspected the extent of the havoc caused by flood in the town.
Babalola, who was in Ondo with some engineers from the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, blamed the incident on people building on the river course.
He said the state government had approved the reconstruction of the culvert to a large one that would accommodate the volume of water running through the canal.
NAN reports that the areas affected by the flood include Ita Nla, Oke Odunwo (Jordan Street), Lipakala /Laje Road, Yaba, Esporta Suits (Ife Road) and Funbi Fagun Estate.
“We have to appeal to our people. If you look at the volume of water coming from the other side of the culvert to Jordan Street, it is so heavy.
“That is why we have this kind of incident. We have observed some of the things our people are doing in the neighborhood, dumping of refuse in the canal. Though this is minimal, but this culvert, I was told, was built over 40 years ago. There are six rings, three below, three at the top.
“But as you can see, the three below have been covered, leaving three which are not enough to contain the volume of water coming from the other side of the culvert.
“But some of our people are building on the river course. Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa will do the needful to ensure that we address this challenge.
“By the time we are through with this box-culvert, we will do some channelling to some meters on either side of the culvert,” Babalola said.
According to him, about three weeks ago, government instructed the contractor to move to site because the culvert had been awarded, but with the new development, it will have to expand the scope of the contract.
He said the state Ministry of Environment’s amphibious excavator had done some work to dredge the river. (NAN)
