(Maiduguri) Torrential rains, a burst dam and a partially submerged regional capital: in Maiduguri, in the northeast of Nigeria, a monstrous flood has caused several deaths and destroyed thousands of homes, according to the authorities.
In some areas of the Borno state capital, only a few roofs were above water on Tuesday.
An ostrich, which escaped from the city zoo along with other animals, was seen wandering the streets, according to videos circulating on social media.
Thousands of homes have been submerged by rapidly rising waters caused by the bursting of the Alau Dam on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres south of Maiduguri.
PHOTO JOSHUA OLATUNJI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Since the start of the country’s rainy season, floods have killed at least 201 people and forced more than 200,000 to flee, according to NEMA.
“Homes are submerged, schools closed and businesses paralyzed, people are evacuating with their belongings,” the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nigeria said on the social network X.
“I have never seen such floods,” said Mohammed Bashir, 44, who runs a shop in the town’s market.
Rescue
Maiduguri, the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency that has lasted for more than fourteen years, has been hit by one of the worst floods in 30 years, according to the UNHCR.
“Parts of the city centre that have not seen flooding for many years are affected today,” Ezekiel Manzo, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP on Tuesday.
The dam rupture caused by heavy rains has left several people dead, according to Mr Manzo, who did not give more precise figures, adding that rescue operations are continuing in the affected areas.
“In the last three days, more than 150,000 people and over 23,000 households have been affected,” Surajo Garba, local NEMA coordinator, told AFP, expecting “the figure to well exceed 200,000 people” given the scale of the floods.
Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima, who hails from Maiduguri, visited the site.
“The collapse of the spillways released a significant wave of water downstream, causing widespread flooding in surrounding communities,” he said.
With flooding still “significant in many parts of the city,” authorities have opened three “temporary shelters” for victims, the NEMA spokesman said.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu expressed in a statement his “condolences” to “families who have lost their livelihoods due to the disaster.”
Food insecurity
Since the start of the country’s rainy season, floods have killed 229 people and forced more than 380,000 to flee, according to NEMA.
In late August, the NEMA spokesperson explained that the north of the country had been particularly affected, but that the central and southern regions could be more affected in the coming days.
At least 107,600 hectares of farmland were also damaged by the heavy rains, NEMA said.
Damage to farmland will worsen food insecurity in Nigeria, the NGO Save the Children warned last week.
“One in six children in Nigeria suffered from hunger between June and August this year, representing a 25 per cent increase over the same period last year,” the NGO said in a statement.
In 2022, more than 500 people died and 1.4 million were displaced in the country’s worst flooding in a decade.