The rain had barely stopped when 62 year old Mama Tokoni Ebidor stepped into ankle deep water outside her home in Biogbolo, one of the many low lying areas of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
For residents, flooding is no longer a seasonal problem that disappears when the rain stops. The water often lingers, turning streets and homes into temporary waterways and leaving communities to deal with the damage.
But increasingly, residents are looking beyond the weather and government for answers. They are also examining their own actions, from blocked drainage channels and indiscriminate waste disposal to buildings erected on natural waterways.
“When I was a girl, the water came and went. Now, it stays because we have stolen its escape routes,” Ebidor said, reflecting on how much the environment around her has changed.
A city built around water
Environmental observer Clark Amaebi believes much of Yenagoa’s flooding is linked to human activity.
He explained that the city’s natural environment was designed to allow water to move through its waterways and drainage channels. However, years of development and poor waste disposal have interfered with those natural routes.
“People erect structures on natural waterways. They dump refuse into drains. And when the rains come, the water has nowhere to go,” Amaebi said.
For residents who have watched the changes over the years, the transformation is difficult to ignore.
Kins Tari, a resident of Ekeki, recalled a time when the creeks were full of life and provided food for families.
“We used to swim in the creeks. Fish was everywhere. You could catch your evening meal in minutes,” he recalled.
Today, he said, many of those waterways are filled with plastic bottles, nylon bags and other waste. Instead of flowing freely during heavy rainfall, the water remains trapped, creating conditions that encourage mosquitoes and increase the risk of disease.
When waste becomes a flood problem
Amaebi also pointed to what he described as a worrying contradiction. While government provides waste receptacles and removes refuse in some areas at no cost, some residents still dispose of their waste in drainage channels.
Once the drains become blocked, heavy rainfall quickly exposes the consequences.
Market woman Ebiere Ware, who trades in Swali, admitted that poor waste disposal had become partly a matter of attitude.
“We know the bins are there. But some people are lazy. Others say the bins are too far. Some just don’t care,” she said.
According to her, residents often hope that rainfall will wash away accumulated waste, only to suffer when the same rain causes the blocked drains to overflow.
“We pray for rain to wash away the dirt, but then the rain comes and we cry because our shops are flooded. We are our own enemies,” she said.
The environmental problem extends beyond flooding. The gradual loss of wildlife, aquatic resources and forest products is also threatening resources that once supported many communities across Bayelsa.
Amaebi recalled that aquatic species and forest resources were once widely available and affordable. Increasing destruction of natural habitats, he said, has contributed to their decline.
Community leader Sampson Sunday remembers when the creeks were filled with prawns and the surrounding forests were alive with wildlife.
“We fed our families from the rivers and the bush, but the rivers are now polluted. The trees are gone. Our children will never know the abundance we once had,” he said.
Sunday also expressed concern over the indiscriminate felling of trees, warning that continued deforestation without adequate replanting would leave future generations to bear the consequences.
“If we continue cutting down trees without replanting, we are stealing from our children and grandchildren,” he said.
Another concern is the absence of proper toilet facilities in some residential buildings. Sunday said some occupants are forced to resort to unhealthy methods of disposing human waste, further contaminating the environment.
“How can a house have no toilet in this day and age?” he asked.
He said the use of plastic bags for human waste and their subsequent disposal in drains could worsen environmental pollution and increase the risk of disease outbreaks during floods.
Dredging and the way forward
On dredging, Amaebi said the activity remains important for maintaining waterways and preventing excessive silt from restricting the movement of water.
However, he stressed that dredging must be properly regulated and carried out in a way that protects the environment.
For him, addressing Yenagoa’s flooding requires more than government intervention. Residents, community leaders, businesses and relevant government agencies must also accept their responsibilities.
“The solution is for all of us to deliberately do the right thing. Environmental protection is a collective responsibility,” he said.
Another resident, Igoni, agreed that government has an important role to play but warned against placing all the responsibility on authorities.
“The government has a role, but we have a role too. If we keep dumping rubbish in the drains, no government can stop the flooding. The water will always find a way to hit back at us,” he said.
For Yenagoa, the challenge is becoming increasingly clear. Until natural waterways are protected, drains kept clear and residents take greater responsibility for their surroundings, the water may continue to return, not simply because of heavy rainfall, but because the paths it once used to escape have gradually been taken away.
