Heavy rains trigger widespread flooding across Nigeria’s commercial city, cripple businesses

Heavy rains trigger widespread flooding across Nigeria’s commercial city, cripple businesses

From Lekki, Agungi, Ajah and Ajiran on the Island to Oshodi, Ikotun, Gbagada, Maryland, Ogudu, Ikeja, Ikorodu and Alakija on the Mainland, Lagos was brought to a standstill as streets turned into rivers and residents struggled to salvage belongings from rising waters.

For many Lagosians, the latest floods are no longer viewed as isolated weather events but as evidence of a city caught in a recurring cycle of inadequate drainage infrastructure, poor urban planning, indiscriminate waste disposal and increasingly extreme weather driven by climate change.

Lagos has battled seasonal flooding for decades. As a coastal megacity sitting barely 1.5 metres above sea level, the state experiences recurrent flooding during its two annual rainy seasons between April and July and September and October. But what was once an occasional disruption has gradually evolved into a multi-billion-dollar economic challenge.

According to estimates by international organisations, including the World Bank, flooding, damaged infrastructure and lost productivity now cost the Lagos economy as much as $4 billion annually.

This year’s floods came despite repeated warnings. In February 2026, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) warned that Lagos faced a heightened risk of severe flash flooding due to heavy rainfall. A month later, the Lagos State Ministry of Environment predicted above-normal rainfall, warning residents to prepare for flooding and strong winds throughout a rainy season expected to last until December.

Even as Tuesday’s floodwaters receded in some communities, NiMet renewed its alert, warning residents of continuous rainfall and heightened flood risks in Lagos and other coastal states, advising motorists and pedestrians to avoid driving or walking through floodwaters.

The impact stretched far beyond flooded roads. Markets in Oshodi and Ikotun were inundated, with traders desperately trying to rescue goods as floodwaters swept through stalls. Videos verified by BusinessDay showed shops submerged while business owners counted losses that may take months to recover.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, operations at the temporary international terminal were suspended after floodwaters reached the facility’s powerhouse. Electricity was disconnected as a safety precaution, forcing airlines including Air France-KLM, Ethiopian Airlines and Fly Gabon to relocate operations to Terminal Two.

Across the city, workers were unable to reach their offices.

Felix Ufewei, who lives in Alakija, said what should have been a routine commute turned into a three-hour ordeal.

“As it stands now, my street is impassable due to the flood this morning. I had to follow the next street just to meet up at my place of work,” he told BusinessDay.

The flooding also delayed delivery of work materials by about two hours, disrupting productivity.

“Before, the materials we used to work with would get to work before we got there, but today, because of the heavy rain and flood, we had to wait for like an extra two hours before the materials could get to us.”

For Eniola Olatunji, the journey to work ended almost as soon as it began. Trying to avoid calling in sick, she stepped into knee-deep floodwater outside her home, only to fall into an open drainage channel hidden beneath the water.

“I broke my nails, my laptop… it’s not coming on. My phone’s Face ID is no longer working,” she said. “I was only lucky I didn’t get any serious injury because the gutter was filled with sand. I had to be pulled out.”

She said transportation costs have also skyrocketed during heavy rainfall, with commercial motorcycle fares increasing from about N300 to as much as N2,000 in flooded neighbourhoods.

For caterer Ayo Adetunji, business has ground to a halt.

“When I attempted to enter the water, it was reaching my waist,” she said. “My husband has not come home since yesterday. He has been sleeping in the office, and all the people staying on the ground floor of my building have locked their doors and left because the water has reached their windows.”

In Agungi, Eyinmisan Abusomwan says flooding has become an annual occurrence.

“Every single year we experience this flood,” he said in a conversation with BusinessDay. “A really bad one happens once a year, but now every single time it rains heavily, it’s flooded.”

He said schoolchildren struggled to move through flooded streets while residents watched helplessly as vehicles and household property were damaged.

“My car has been damaged; it’s not coming on.”

Abusomwan also recalled a previous flooding incident in the area that claimed a life, illustrating the dangers residents face every rainy season.

The Lagos State Government insists flooding was largely a flash flood caused by unusually intense rainfall.

“Yesterday’s flooding was largely a flash flood triggered by several hours of intense rainfall,” Tokunbo Wahab, commissioner for environment, wrote on X on Monday. “As is typical with flash floods, water levels have since receded in many affected areas.”

He added that government agencies were monitoring vulnerable communities while implementing measures to improve the state’s flood resilience.

Months earlier, while presenting the state’s 2026 Seasonal Climate Prediction, Wahab had warned that Lagos would experience above-normal rainfall because of prevailing climatic conditions associated with a weak La Niña and a neutral El Niño Southern Oscillation phase.

He explained that another contributor to flooding is the periodic rise in lagoon water levels, which temporarily prevents stormwater from draining into the lagoon.

“Anytime there is high tidal movement, it may lock up the discharge points of drainage channels… such occurrences also cause backflows, resulting in flooding,” he said.

He urged residents to stop dumping refuse into drainage channels and warned against building on drainage setbacks and floodplains.

Many residents, however, argue that blaming heavy rainfall tells only part of the story.

Environmental experts have long identified clogged drainage systems, poor waste management, unchecked urbanisation, wetland reclamation and illegal sand filling as major contributors to Lagos’ flooding.

Although the state generates between 13,000 and 15,000 metric tonnes of solid waste daily, refuse evacuation has struggled to keep pace with population growth.

Large heaps of waste remain visible in several parts of the city, with plastic waste frequently finding its way into drainage channels.