Severe flooding in the Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has claimed at least 30 lives and forced 400,000 people from their homes, relief officials said on Wednesday.
A day after water from an overflowing dam swept away thousands of homes in the North East city, Head of Media and Public Relations of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ezekiel Manzo told AFP: “The death toll is 30″.
His NEMA colleague Zubaida Umar also said: The situation in Maiduguri is quite frightening. The flood has taken over around 40 percent of the entire city. People have been forced out of their homes and are scattered everywhere.
“From our statistics, we have 414,000 displaced people”. He told the BBC’s Hausa service that officials feared that number could reach one million.
The UN refugee agency in Nigeria said on X Tuesday the flooding was the worst to hit the city in 30 years.
Maiduguri, at the epicentre of a more than decade-long jihadist insurgency, serves as the hub for the responses to the humanitarian crisis in the the region.
The crisis was caused by the rupture of the Alau dam on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres south of Maiduguri over the weekend.
According to NEMA, more than 23,000 households, and upwards of 150,000 people, were hit by the subsequent rapid rise of waters.
Umar said: “We have also sent our mobile clinics with medical supplies along with medical doctors from the military hospital to attend to the displaced in the camps who need medical care.
“This is important because the main hospital in Maiduguri has also been affected by the flood.
“We have provided canoes and fishermen who have been going into flooded communities and rescuing residents who are trapped”.
A resident, Aisha Aliyu, who had managed to reach one of eight camps NEMA has opened to take in survivors, said: “We have deployed our water trucks to provide clean water because we are concerned about the possible outbreak of water-borne diseases.
“I never pray for even my enemy to experience such a thing”.
Another resident, Maryam Musa, said: “I have nowhere to go”, adding that she had lost track of her relatives.
“I haven’t seen any of them, even my siblings, both young and old, and I can’t reach them on the phone. We are appealing to the governor to help us”.
After visiting one of the displacement camps, the state governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum said that authorities had decided to give each household N10,000 and would be distributing food and non-food aid.
The authorities would need to rebuild and strengthen the dam, he added.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, who hails from the state, visited the disaster area on Tuesday.
President Bola Tinubu offered his “condolences” to those hit by the disaster.
Since the start of the rainy season in Nigeria, floods have killed 229 people and forced more than 380,000 people to flee, according to NEMA’s figures.
The torrential rains have also least 265,000 acres of farmland were also damaged by the torrential rains.
Source: AFP
