Reading flood risk on the Lekki-Epe corridor

Flooding on the corridor is not random, and it is not uniform. Two plots on the same street can behave completely differently, and the difference is usually visible if you know what to look at.

What to look at on the plot

• Relative elevation against the road and against the neighbours, not absolute height.

• Whether the estate's drainage discharges somewhere, or simply ends.

• Sand fill depth, and whether it was placed and compacted or merely tipped.

• The high water mark on neighbouring fences and gateposts, which is often still visible months later.

What a viewing will not tell you

A plot viewed in January tells you nothing about July. If you cannot visit in the rains, the next best evidence is the people already living there. Ask a resident two streets over, not the agent, and ask specifically about the worst week rather than the average year.

Everyone will tell you it does not flood. Ask instead how high it came, and how long it stayed.

Filling is not a solution on its own

Raising your plot above your neighbours moves the water rather than removing it, and it works only until they raise theirs. Estates that have solved this did it at estate level, with a drainage plan and somewhere for the water to go. Estates that left it to individual buyers are in a slow arms race that the last person to build always loses.

None of this makes the corridor a bad place to buy. It makes drainage a question you ask before price.