At least 6 killed, 10,000 displaced in Nigeria following heavy rains

At least six people are known to have died in flooding in northern Nigeria on Monday which has left at least 10,000 homeless across 11 communities.

People transport cassava in a canoes along flooded residential streets after a heavy downpour In Bayelsa, Nigeria, Thursday Oct. 20, 2022
© Reed Joshua/Copyright 2022 The AP. All rights reserved

Officials in flood-prone Adamawa State are worried by the downpours that have caused latest flooding, because the rainy season is yet to peak. The rains cause rivers such as the Benue to overflow, leading to widespread inundation of communities, farmlands, and infrastructure.

“Due to climate change and a lot of other factors, the floods have come earlier than we expected and it caught a lot of our people unawares,” said Adamawa State Deputy Governor Kaletapwa Farauta.

“Even if we are expecting floods, it is not in August, usually we always put our minds to September,” she added.

The state government acknowledged on Wednesday that the flood may not have been worse than in previous years, but has urged people in low-lying areas along the Benue River to move to one of eight internal displacement camps set up in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency.

In 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst flood in more than a decade, killing more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and destroyed over 400,000 hectares of farmland.