A local crisis response official told AFP in Abuja on Saturday that more than 150 people were killed by flash flooding in northern Nigeria, who also displaced 3, 000 people, leveled more than 250 homes, and wiped out two roads. According to Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, the death toll increased sharply from the previous death toll of 115 to the number of bodies recovered close to 10 kilometers ( 6 miles ) from the town of Mokwa, which is the epicenter of the floods. President Bola Tinubu stated that search-and-rescue operations were afoot, with security forces helping to aid the crisis response as Husseini warned that the death toll was still fall, with bodies being swept away down the effective Niger River. In a post over the weekend on social media, Tinubu stated that “relief materials and temporary sanctuary help are being deployed without postpone” in Mokwa, which was affected by heavy rains late on Wednesday through early on Thursday. An AFP journalist in Mokwa observed on Friday that buildings in the town, which is located more than 350 kilometers ( 215 miles ) by road from the capital Abuja, collapsed and roads were flooded in the town. Waters rushed through the dust alongside, prompting emergency services and residents to search through it. Husseini claimed that” some body were recovered from the debris of fell homes,” adding that his team would require the use of excavators to find dead. He claimed that there were many missing people, citing a family of 12 and the fact that just four people were found guilty as of Friday. Mohammed Tanko, a civil servant, pointed to a home he was raised in and said to the media,” We lost at least 15 from this property. The residence has vanished. The Nigerian Red Cross, local volunteers, the military, and the police all contributed to the response, according to the National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA ). According to Husseini’s statistics, 151 people were killed, 3, 018 were displaced, 265 homes were” fully destroyed,” and two roads were ejected from the busy, remote market town. Nigeria’s gloomy period, which typically lasts six decades, is only beginning to change for the year. Every year, hundreds of people are killed in the west African nation because of floods, which are typically brought on by heavy rains and weak system. Additionally, scientists have cautioned that climate change is bringing about more severe weather patterns. The development of homes along waterways, the lack of drain, and the dumping of misuse in empties and water channels in Nigeria make the floods worse. This horrible incident serves as a fast reminder of the problems of keeping drain programmes and river lines clear, according to NEMA. More than 50 children in an Islamist class were reported missing, and hundreds of people have been displaced, according to the Daily Trust paper. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency issued a warning about flash storms that might occur between Wednesday and Friday in 15 of the country’s 36 state, including Niger. In at least 31 of Nigeria’s 36 states in 2024, more than 1,200 people were killed and 1.2 million were displaced, making it one of the country’s worst storm conditions in decades, according to NEMA. At least two bodies lying near, covered in fruit leaf and printed turkey fabric, were found playing in the flood waters on Friday, raising the possibility of exposure to water-borne conditions. Sabuwar Bala, a 50-year-old potato merchant, described how she escaped the raging waters as” I was just wearing my underwear; one loaned me all I’m wearing right now.” I was unable to actually protect my flip-flops. Because of the destruction, she said,” I can’t find where my house was.”
