Following the Lagos heavy rainfall of 16th July that caused a yet to be financially quantified havoc, the Nigerian meteorological agency, NiMet has urged Nigerians to pay attention to their weather forecasts and predictions on facebook and YouTube as a means of getting information to avert calamities.
A statement by NiMet’s GM public affairs ,Muntari Ibrahim says the agency had predicted the heavy rainfall before it happened.
“These forecasts anticipated a rainy day in the coastal city of Lagos state for 16th July 2021. Consequently, the eventual heavy rainfall that occurred in Lagos state on the 16th of July 2021 was expected. Confirmation of this weather forecast is posted on our Facebook and on YouTube”.
According to Muntari, “in line with the forecast, continuous rainfall was observed over Lagos and its environs from morning to evening. As the weather outlook for July 15, 2021, indicated, heavy volume of rainfall was observed with 125mm and 66mm of rainfall was recorded at our Oshodi and Ikeja weather stations. This with other factors, caused flash flood episodes especially over Lagos Marina on Victoria Island”.
“The Synoptic Causes indicated the presence of very deep vertical extent of moisture and moisture laden winds up to about 3000m (700hPa) level in the atmosphere coupled with instability vortices and trough lines. These features are usually accompanied by monsoonal rains otherwise referred to as continuous rainfall. The scale of these rains has been getting stronger spatially and temporally, hence leading to high impact and extreme weather events.
He called on Nigerians to follow the agency on its socialedia platforms to avail itself of such timely information while pledging Nimet’s commitment to providing weather, climate and hydrological information for sustainable development and safety of lives.
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