Overnight Downpour Floods Streets in Tallinding Koloban

By Nelson Manneh

An overnight downpour has flooded several streets in Tallinding Koloban, leaving residents trapped in their homes and disrupting movement in the area on Thursday morning.

A visit to the area found several streets and major walkways submerged in rainwater, leaving residents with little space to move around. In some areas, water had overflowed from drainage gutters and spread across the streets.

Alpha Omar Bah, a shopkeeper in the area, said poor sanitation practices were contributing to the flooding.

“During this period, some people take the opportunity to open their manholes, allowing their waste to run into the streets,” Bah said. “That is why you will realize some of the streets smell. It is because of the wastewater running from homes.”

Bah said heavy rainfall regularly leaves the streets severely flooded.

“When it rains heavily, our street transforms into an ocean,” he said. “The stagnant water forces people to stay indoors, and those who venture out have no choice but to wade through the contaminated water.”

He said the drainage system in the area was not functioning effectively.

“We have drainages here, but they are almost useless to us,” Bah said. “When it rains, water overflows from them, making the environment worse.”

According to Bah, the situation had been better in previous years when drainage channels were cleaned before the rainy season.

“In previous years, the situation was better because the drainages were cleaned before the rainy season,” he said. “This year is the worst because the drainages were left untouched.”

Another resident, Lamin Jarju, said both structural problems and poor waste disposal were contributing to the flooding.

He called for the enforcement of anti-littering laws to address waste management problems in Tallinding.

“There are some compounds here that you cannot even enter because they are entirely flooded,” Jarju said. “The water runs straight from the streets into those homes.”

He said blocked drainage channels were preventing rainwater from flowing away from residential areas.

“The fact that water is bursting out of the drainages instead of flowing through them proves they are completely blocked,” Jarju said.

Jarju blamed indiscriminate dumping for some of the blockages.

“I have seen people throwing waste directly into the drainages,” he said. “You see youths sitting in the streets brewing ‘attaya’ (green tea), and they throw their waste into the gutters. All these illegal acts contribute to blocking the waterways.”

Tida Cham, a retired civil servant who was born and raised in Tallinding, said existing environmental laws needed to be fully enforced to address the problem.

“If you walk through the neighborhood, you will see fences with intentional holes created specifically for wastewater to run out of compounds and into the streets,” Cham said.

“That is why even during the dry season, the streets are always wet,” she added. “For this to stop, offenders need to be prosecuted, either heavily fined or jailed for their actions.”

Cham also raised concerns about the opening of manholes during heavy rainfall.

She alleged that some compound owners deliberately open manholes to allow household wastewater to flow into the streets.

“We cannot fix this on our own,” Cham said. “If you try to confront those responsible, they will either insult you or view you as a malicious neighbor.”

Residents interviewed in the area raised concerns about drainage maintenance, waste disposal and the enforcement of environmental laws, saying the condition of the streets becomes particularly difficult during heavy rainfall.