Hundreds of motorists and passengers going to Mile 2 were on Saturday stranded as flood from morning downpour disrupted free movement on the Trade Fair and Abule -Ado axis of the Lagos- Badagry Expressway.

The resultant flood from the downpour also blocked the trade fair axis, temporarily impeding the movement of vehicles on the expressway.

NAN also reports that the rainfall, which started at 5.00 a.m. and continued for hours, forced many passengers to come down from commercial vehicles and resort to trekking from Abule-Ado to Barracks in Ojo.

Some passengers and motorists urged the Lagos State Government to clear the drainage to avert such flood incidents.

*Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu

Mrs Ibironke Adegboyega, a trader in Ebute-Aro, Lagos Island, said that the flood had prevented her from going to open her shop.

*Another passenger trying to cross from one side of Lagos Badagry expressway to the other during the downpour on Saturday.

“The flood has completely blocked the expressway, some vehicles that tried to access the road had been trapped in the flood.

“The drainage is blocked by plastics and nylon preventing the passage of the water.

“Lagos government should wake up to its responsibility and clear the drainage, they should also warn the traders against indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

“I have to go back home now because it is dangerous to force your way in there due to the flood,” she said.

*Commuters trekking due to flood caused the morning downpour  in Lagos

Mr Toyosi Stephen, a passenger, said the blockage of the expressway was due to the way the contractor handling the project constructed the road.

“One will see that from Abule-Ado down to the Trade fair axis is very sloppy making water to gather under the bridge.

“This also applies to when you are coming from Barracks down to Trade fair, so the water coming from Abule-Ado and Barracks will gather at trade fair and block the movement of vehicles and passengers.

“Government should work on this and also ensure clearing of drainage around this place all the time.

“I have been trapped here, I have to go back to Agbara and sleep,” he said.

*The blockage at the Trade fair axis of Lagos Badagry expressway.

Mr Mutiu Suru, a bus conductor, said the flood would reduce when the rain stopped and that vehicles and passengers would be able to move freely on the expressway.

“The rain is heavy, that’s why the flood blocked the road, but I can tell you that in an hour’s time, vehicles will start going.

“All we need to do is to exercise patience and relax in our vehicles,” he said.

NAN reports that the floods also affected communities in Badagry including Mowo, Ikoga, Ansarudeen, Ajara-Vetho, Aghelaso, and Zogakome areas.

• NAN

 …To announce new dates later***

Due to the heavy downpour experienced in all parts of the Metropolis today, the Lagos State Government has announced the postponement of the planned Two Sundays palliative works on the failed sections of the 3rd Mainland Bridge, which was scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday 17th, and Sunday 24th September 2023.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi who confirmed this in a release, explained that the rain has affected the preliminaries of the planned palliative works on the asphalt pavement of the bridge by the Lagos State Public Works Corporation.

Assuring that a later date which will be subject to weather conditions will be duly communicated for the palliative works, the Transport Commissioner urged Motorists to continue to access the bridge with observance of safety measures.

Australian doctors have found a live parasitic worm in a woman’s brain in a world-first discovery.

In a new study published on Tuesday, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) and Canberra Hospital detailed the discovery of the parasitic roundworm.

The eight-cm Ophidascaris robertsi roundworm, which is usually found in pythons, was pulled from the patient, a 64-year-old woman, still alive and wriggling after brain surgery.

Sanjaya Senanayake, a leading infectious disease expert from ANU and the Canberra Hospital, said in a media release that it was a world first.

According to the study, the patient was admitted to a local hospital in south-east New South Wales (NSW) in 2021 after three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhea.

In 2022, after she started experiencing forgetfulness and depression, a neurosurgeon at Canberra Hospital identified an abnormality in the right frontal lobe of the brain from an MRI scan, prompting the surgery that discovered the roundworm.

The study hypothesizes that the patient was probably infected by touching, or eating, native grasses that a carpet python had shed the parasite into.

She remains under monitoring by infectious disease and brain experts. 

– Xinhua