Lagos: Ocean surge hits Alpha Beach, renders thousand homeless

Posted by admin Headlines, Lagos, State News Monday, August 29th, 2011

Frequent visitors to Alpha Beach on the Lagos Island would find it difficult to believe that their favourite fun spot is no more.

What is left of this tourist site is a broken coastline that shows the potency of angry water.

What used to be a tarred road running parallel to the beach had been broken up by the strong tide from the Atlantic Ocean which had been hitting the beach since two weeks ago.

The asphalt had been deposited against the walls of the few remaining concrete shops still standing on the beach. The road had been eroded, creating a gorge higher than three feet on the beach.

A mosque on the beach was also reduced to rubble while a church located on the beach was deserted.

The present fate of Alpha is the result of a continual surging of the Atlantic Ocean. It peaked to a frightful proportion at the weekend, pushing the coastline to the road and destroying shops and property along the beach.

The surge had consequently left many residents in the area homeless. The state government puts the figure at over 1000.

When PUNCH METRO visited the beach on Monday, the residents narrated how the ocean came thundering into the beach, destroying a large number of structures.

Some of the residents and business owners, whose shops were damaged, told PUNCH METRO that the ocean rises unexpectedly every evening and creeps toward houses and kiosks along the coast.

“But yesterday was different. I have been here for a while but I have not seen the ocean that high before. The ocean suddenly surged and washed away all the shops, especially the wooden kiosks and the bars constructed with bamboo,” a bar owner on the beach told our correspondent.

A Ghanaian, who identified herself simply as Iya Koffi, said she was still clueless about where she would go now that her shop where she sold drinks and pepper soup had been washed away. Even her home, located more than 100 metres away from the coast is now barely two metres away from reach of water at low tide

“At night we dare not stay inside because the tide covers every part of the house. I have never seen this ocean like that in my life. In the last two weeks it has been rising steadily, but we did not imagine it would even get this worse. Where the ocean is raging right now used to be where people sit to drink and relax,” she said.

When the ocean surged on Sunday, lucky residents who were around were able to salvage some of their property. Those who do business in the area and live away from the beach got a surprise on Monday morning when they could not locate their shops anymore.

Some youths told our correspondent that the night life, which made the beach popular, had been destroyed.

A resident, Nicholas Duka, said sex workers who ply their trade in the area have all been displaced due to the destruction of their brothels, which were mostly constructed with wood.

“Those girls make this place interesting. But they dare not come here in the evening or night anymore. This place is now a danger zone.

“What makes this place more dangerous is that this is not like the flood which ravaged most places in Lagos more than a month ago. This is the Atlantic at work. It is not something you can construct drainage to stop. It destroys anything on its path. That is why you cannot find any shop on the coast anymore.”

Shop owners and residents were seen removing the roofing sheet on the now decrepit shops.

Many youths who do petty business on the beach, stood around looking at the now empty beach that once served as a place where they made a living.

“This is not funny at all. This problem is not just about those who have shops here. There are lots of us who make money on this beach one way or the other, and it helps them stay out of trouble. That would not be possible anymore now as you can see,” one of the youths, Michael Ayinor, told PUNCH METRO.

He pointed to a spot about 100 metres away where he said he used to jog every morning.

“You can see now that the water level in the place would submerge an adult. We really don’t understand why this happened. It is like we woke up and the beach was gone. We don’t really know who to cry to for help because it is obvious that even the state government would need a lot of resources to combat this problem,” he said.

However the state government on Monday warned the state residents to stay away from its beaches.

It also warned residents living around coastal areas to be careful, saying that Lagos was experiencing ocean surge up to about five metres high.

The Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru, who gave the warning, said there had been a rising tide on the beaches.

He said, “It is a cause for concern. Alpha, Badagry and Kuramo are experiencing ocean surge as a result of strong waves coupled with beached vessels on the Atlantic. The wave is about 5 metres high.

“What we are experiencing right now is the ripple effect of happenings in the Caribbean and Hurricane Irene. So, Lagosians are advised to keep away from the waterfront since experts have said this surge in the ocean will last till Sunday.”

Oniru said the government had put some measures in place to control the situation including watch towers and beach guards to monitor the coastline and report back on an hourly basis.

-Punchwp_posts