At least 111 people were killed as a result of common floods in northern Nigeria on Friday. More than 50 homes have been destroyed by flood waters in the market town of Mokwa in the northern Niger state following heavy rains earlier this year. More bodies have just been brought and are still being counted, but we have at least 111 confirmed now, according to Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokeswoman for the Niger State disaster company, who earlier told the Associated Press.
Why is Nigeria’s flood risk but high?
Mokwa is a significant regional hub for farmers from the northeast and merchants from the north of the nation. It is situated about 220 kilometers ( 140 miles ) west of Abuja, which is the capital. The flood was brought on by many hours of heavy rains, with the collapse of a nearby damn further aggravating the situation. Between Wednesday and Friday, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency warned of flash storms that might occur in 15 of the country’s 36 state, including Niger State. The rainy season in Nigeria has only just begun, and it typically lasts for about six weeks. The yearly event frequently causes lots of fatalities. The flood gets worse because of a lack of drain, construction of homes on waters, and the disposal of waste in empties and water stations. In 2024, more than 1,200 people died and 1.2 million were displaced as a result of one of Nigeria’s worst catastrophe in years. More than 1.4 million acres (3. 5 million acres ) of land were also destroyed by the flood, which affected 31 of the nation’s 36 states.
