Marooned!

And now we are somewhat stranded. As the river level creeps ever upwards, and ever closer to our friends’ front door, our road has now started to flood – not just from the over-saturated swamp, but because the river is so high. When we went out earlier, the water was covering cars’ exhaust pipes in places and has risen since. The traffic has in fact increased along our street, because the next road down is now submerged in river, so when you’re not trying to avoid the puddles, you’re jumping out of the way of motorbikes. One man in his car, which had just very nearly run me over, shouted “White woman – what are you doing here?!”. I wasn’t sure whether he meant in front of his car, in a flooded area of town or in Nigeria, so I just kept walking.

The okadas continue to run down our road, with and without passengers. Passengers roll their trousers up and take off their shoes, and drivers hold their legs straight out in front of them to keep their feet wet whilst their wheels are submerged; it’s a miracle I haven’t yet witnessed anyone falling off into the water.

So we can’t get to the main road now. Not unless we’re prepared to wade in significant depths, and since someone told us they saw leeches in there, I’m not. We paddled to a riverside bar, where we sat above the swollen river and observed as the rapid currents dragged large tree parts pasts us, drank a couple of beers and watched a beautiful sunset. The river didn’t look like it was getting any higher, but by the time we came to cross that same patch of water to get home, it was considerably larger, deeper and faster-flowing and we had to wade almost up to our knees.

The volunteers who live next to the river are now two or three doors away from the encroaching Kaduna River, and have brought another couple of bags over to store in our – as yet – dry house. We met our landlord on the way out and he seemed ever so slightly less confident about the situation than before. Since we’re heading to Abuja for a week tomorrow – provided we can get someone to come and pick us up in a 4x4! – we’re piling everything on top of furniture and hoping for the best.