Flood in north Nigeria kills five people
LAGOS: Flood triggered by a severe downpour on Thursday in northeast Nigeri's...
At least 50 people have perished and “many” have been relocated in northern Nigeria as a result of recent severe rains, according to Sani Yusuf, executive secretary of Jigawa State’s State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
“When you go around [Jigawa State], we lost about 50 people to the flood,” Yusuf said on television from the city of Dutse on Sunday, according to local media.
Yusuf reported that at least 237 homes had been damaged in the Balangu area alone, pushing people into temporary camps. Eleven temporary camps have been established for those who have been relocated, he said.
Sadiya Farouq, Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, recently visited Jigawa State to distribute relief items, according to a tweet from the federal government.
“This incident is particularly sad because it has become perennial. This is causing serious damage to schools, houses, and the livelihood of the people,”On camera, Farouq told reporters.
According to Farouq, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to activate the National Emergency Management Agency to assist those affected by the floods.
The floods follow days of intense thunderstorms that caused the Nigerian Meteorological Agency to issue flash flood warnings.
Many areas of Jigawa are prone to flooding after heavy rains.
Earlier in August, flooding from heavy rains killed seven people and wrecked scores of buildings in seven regions of the northeastern Nigerian state.
More than 120 households were relocated in the state’s Guri area last year when their homes were swamped by floodwaters following a strong downpour.
“Desilting a river is not a solution to flooding, it’s a temporary solution, it takes a lot of money. If all the budgets of the federal government and Jigawa State are combined to desilt River Hadejia, we cannot achieve it,” Adamu said, adding that: “There are no short-term measures to stop flooding but we can mitigate and do early warning.”
Catch all the World News, Breaking News Event and Latest News Updates on The BOL News
Download The BOL News App to get the Daily News Update & Follow us on Google News.