(Maiduguri) Massive floods that engulfed the city of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria earlier this week have killed at least 30 people and displaced more than 400,000, relief workers said Wednesday, with fears the toll could rise.
Thousands of homes were submerged on Tuesday by rapidly rising waters caused by the bursting of the Alau dam on the Ngadda River, 20 kilometres south of Maiduguri.
In the aftermath of the torrential rains that caused the dam to burst, the rains stopped but “more than 400,000 people have been displaced” and at least “30 dead” have been found, Ezekiel Manzo, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP.
The regional capital in Borno state, the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency that has lasted more than 14 years, has been hit by one of the worst floods in 30 years, the UN refugee agency in Nigeria said.
“It’s really terrible, I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, to leave your own home with nothing but the clothes you’re wearing,” Aisha Aliyu, a refugee in one of eight camps opened by NEMA to accommodate the displaced, told AFP.
“I have nowhere to go, I can’t reach my family, I haven’t seen any of my brothers and sisters, no one is answering the phone,” Maryam Musa, who also had to flee her home, told AFP with tears in her eyes.
Provisional report
According to Zubaida Umar, NEMA’s director general, “about 40 percent of the city” is devastated.
The toll could rise, she said, as relief efforts continue.
“We are still rescuing people and in the end there could be a million displaced,” she told BBC Hausa television.
According to Mme Umar, NEMA has deployed teams with canoes to rescue residents trapped by the waters, tankers to meet the need for drinking water as well as mobile clinics and doctors to attend to the displaced.
“We have decided to give 10,000 naira (about $8) to each head of household, male and female. Then we will distribute food and non-food items to everyone,” said Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, who visited one of the NEMA camps for displaced people on Wednesday.
“Now we have to rebuild and strengthen the dam, and increase its capacity,” the governor assured.
On Tuesday, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who hails from Maiduguri, visited the site.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu offered his “condolences” to “families who have lost their livelihoods due to the disaster.”
Since the start of the rainy season in Africa’s most populous country, floods have killed 229 people and forced more than 380,000 to flee, according to NEMA.
At least 107,600 hectares of farmland have also been damaged by the torrential rains, raising fears of worsening food insecurity.
In 2022, more than 500 people died and 1.4 million were displaced in the country’s worst floods in the previous decade.