Flood disaster: 25M in danger, 38,228 displaced, 160 dead, 59 towns in ruins

Tribune News: Flood



Rgardless of the fact that the rains may have subsided, no fewer than 25 million Nigerians living along coastal communities of Rivers, Niger, Benue, Sokoto, Katsina Lagos, Ondo, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross River states in Nigeria may be threatened by displacement and devastation before the end of the year.

Already, more than 38,228 persons have been displaced in Kano, Jigawa, Cross River, Taraba, Adamawa Niger and Anambra states, while about 160 individuals were confirmed dead in the last two weeks, with over 59 communities sacked, when torrential rains wreaked havoc in some states of the federation, most especially in the North

The DG of NEMA in Cross River said “We have a large volume of water coming in as a result of the discharge of water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam and it is the manifestation of what we had earlier been warned against,” disclosing that “there was an invasion of reptiles, including, crocodiles and snakes, in many communities.”

These developments came, just as the Presidential Committee on Flood, led by Hadiza Mailafiya, who is also the Minister for Environment, paid unscheduled visits to some states in the North-East, including Jigawa, where over 400,000 farmlands and 36,000 houses were destroyed by flood disaster.