Authorities say at least 603 people have lost their lives to this year’s floods and more than 1.3 million people have been displaced.
Number of deaths from flooding in niger This year has grown to 603 as local authorities race to rescue hundreds of thousands of people who are being evacuated from their flooded homes.
More than 1.3 million people have been displaced by the disaster, which has affected people The Department of Humanitarian Affairs said on 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states as of late Sunday.
At least 3,400 square kilometers (1,300 square miles) of land has been flooded, exacerbating concerns about disruption to food supplies. Conflict has threatened production in the northwest and central regions of Nigeria, which produce much of what the country eats.
President Muhammadu Buhari directed “all concerned to work to restore normalcy”, according to a statement from his office.
All Federal agencies dealing with rescue and disaster management have been directed to expand response and intervention efforts to assist flood victims across the country, as well as all both State Governments affected – 33 States affected so far, and FCT.
– Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) October 16, 2022
Nigeria experiences floods every year, especially in its coastal areas, but this year’s floods are the worst in more than a decade. Authorities blamed the disaster on the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam in neighboring Cameroon and on irregular rainfall.
Al Jazeera by Ahmed Idris, reporting from Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state in southern Nigeria, said people are fleeing to the city in hopes of getting help from the authorities.
Idris said: “The bad news is that it has been pouring rain for the past few days and the rain is expected to continue to fall in the coming days.
“Water levels are rising at an alarming rate,” he said. “The ferocity of the water is also increasing. Floodwaters from upstream are continuing to flow in this direction.”
Flooding has worsened a humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, where violenceespecially in the troubled Northern region, which has displaced more than three million people, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.
Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, warned that five states remained at risk of flooding until the end of November.
“We are calling on state governments, local councils and communities to prepare for greater flooding by evacuating people living on floodplains to lands,” said Farouq. high.
Last week, Buhari allocated 12,000 tonnes of grain to flood victims, the humanitarian affairs minister said.
