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Victor Odogwu has just finished swimming through wastewater. After a long wait for help, the 24-year-old man managed to wade through dirty floodwaters, through mud, plastic and market rubbish while looking for a place to shelter from the rain.
He seemed almost resigned. During the rainy season, this ordeal has become commonplace.
Odogwu went to visit his family in Oshodi, Lagos State. It was drizzling lightly when he left, and he thought he could get there before the rain became heavy. But as he approached the BRT terminal in Onipanu, where he planned to board the bus, the rain got heavier.
“I tried many times to find a bus to take shelter, but I still didn’t know if there was a bus available. I know I heard voices in one of the buses, but maybe they thought I was trying to beg, so they didn’t respond,” he said.
Odogwu has suffered from vision problems since he was four and a half years old.
He couldn’t afford to stay out in the pouring rain, waiting and hoping someone would help him. So he started moving, without knowing clearly where he was going or where he could seek shelter.
There are several markets around Oshodi garage. When it rains, market waste collects in the flood water. Odogwu continued to step into it while looking for a place to take cover.
“I went from one pool of dirty water to another, almost swimming in it. The water was messy. I put my feet in, and I could feel mud, dirt, plastic; it was terrible,” he said.
Finally, someone volunteered to help him reach the BRT terminal, where he boarded a bus.
For many Lagos residents, the rainy season highlights the city’s lack of preparedness for flooding. However, for people with disabilities, the consequences can be even more difficult. Basic tasks, daily responsibilities, and moving around the city become more complicated every time heavy rains and flooding start to occur.
According to researchLagos is one of the world’s cities that is gradually sinking at up to 3.4 inches (87 millimeters) per year, with areas including Oshodi, Mushin and Gbagada Highways among the worst affected as of June 2026.
World Bank Report 2020 too estimation that Lagos suffers losses of around $4 billion annually due to flooding, infrastructure damage and reduced employment output.
For people with disabilities (PWD), floods have become a predictable annual ordeal. Since there is no solution in sight, the safest option is often to restrict their movements. Even so, staying at home doesn’t necessarily make the rainy season easier.
The complexity of a typical day
Odogwu is a content writer who lives alone and works in a hybrid environment in Lagos.
On a normal day, his journey from his apartment in Shomolu to his office in Marina takes between 40 minutes and one hour and 10 minutes. On days with heavy traffic, the journey can take up to two hours.
But even before traffic jams become a problem, getting to work presents other challenges.
“When I got off at Onipanu, I had to cross the service lane, then use the footbridge to cross to the other side. Often, it wasn’t even daylight yet, so I stood there in the dark, cold mornings, listening for the sound of people passing by so I could ask them to help me cross.”
To save costs, Odogwu often uses the blue BRT bus, which according to him is free of charge for blind people to board the bus.
However, getting to the BRT line requires the help of other people. According to Odogwu, he had to wait and sometimes raise his voice before getting a bus to his destination.
Across Lagos, Emmanuella Oluchi has developed her own routine for exploring the city.
He leaves home at 05.30 every day to go to work. The 33-year-old polio survivor works as a content strategist and script writer at an entertainment media house that manages artistic talent for Persons with Disabilities (PWD).
Oluchi was on crutches as only his right leg was affected. On a normal day, the journey from his home in Festac to his office in Okota takes an average of two hours, using trishaws and motorbikes.
However, when the rain came, the route to his office was badly flooded. For Oluchi, going out during the rainy season means being prepared for unpredictable circumstances.
Oluchi’s main preparation is evasion. He leaves the house only when there is something important or necessary. Other times, he asked his family members to run errands for him.
Even so, he deliberately tried to move around when it rained. He did this because he wanted to reduce his dependence on other people for mobility.
But not all journeys end safely. One morning, after a night of rain, Oluchi fell off his motorbike.
“When the bike dropped me off, I tried to walk as usual, but unfortunately I fell into the water that day. I had to go home, and that was the end of my work for the day.”
More complicated problem
The rain didn’t stop on the way. For most Lagosians, these problems follow them home.
Poor infrastructure, inadequate regulations and weak law enforcement mean that communities struggle with heavy rains. Across the state, inadequate drainage, blocked waterways and poor infrastructure are making it more difficult for communities to weather the rain.
This problem is exacerbated by buildings built on flood-prone land or too close to drainage channels, even though there are regulations aimed at preventing such construction. If law enforcement is not implemented, homes and other structures can obstruct the natural flow of water. Residents are then left to suffer the consequences.
For the people who live in these buildings, flooding is not just an environmental problem. Their own homes can become unsafe.
Moremi, a mother of two blind children, experienced this firsthand.
He lives in Ijora-Badia in a rented apartment which he says is spacious, beautiful and very affordable.
Then the rain came.
Moremi discovered that the flat was built on swamp land. The water rose knee-high inside the apartment, destroying his furniture, gadgets and food.
One day, the flood was so bad that it woke the family up at 1 am. They finally left the apartment and moved to a hotel. Later, the family moved to another part of the city, where they started life all over again.
People with disabilities face the challenges of flooding
Every time Odogwu steps outside, the environment and people around him often remind him of his visual impairment.
When it rains and the streets flood, he finds himself stranded while others rush for shelter. The people who usually helped him suddenly focused on saving themselves.
For Odogwu, the experience was both demoralizing and paralyzing. The rainy season, both visible and subtle, reminded him that he could not see.
The impact does not stop when the water recedes.
Rain almost every year brings malaria, and the consequences he attributes not so much to the weather as to the condition of his apartment and the repeated exposure to dirty flood water.
In June 2026, Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Tokunbo Wahab, urged residents to remain calm, describing the flooding as only temporary and expected to dissipate once the rain stops.
A month later, Health Commissioner Prof. Akin Abayomi described the floods as a public health crisis whose impacts hit high-risk groups the hardest, including people with disabilities.
Neither statement changes anything for Odogwu or Oluchi. Rain also comes with other costs.
The hope is for something more basic: that the offices of the Local Development Council and other regulatory bodies in Lagos can do their job and inspect the houses to ensure that they are built properly.
By: Ishola’s Testimony
