The Red Cross reported that search teams were spotted several kilometers away from the scene of deadly flash flooding in Niger on Saturday as Mokwa, the north-central market town, reached a death toll of 150.
More than 250 buildings were levelled and two bridges were swept away in the town, according to Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, as bodies were recovered close to 10 kilometers (six miles) away from the town.
Husseini warned that the number of bodies being swept down the powerful River Niger could rise even higher.
On the other side of the swampy banks of the waterway, search teams were heading toward Jebba, according to Gideon Adamu, the head of the Red Cross in Niger State.
More than 3, 000 people were displaced by the flooding in Mokwa from Wednesday night into Thursday, according to Husseini. According to Adamu, 121 people were hurt in the hospital, and more than 100 were missing.
Nigeria’s rainy season is just beginning its first full year, which typically lasts six months.
Every year, hundreds of people are killed by flooding, which is typically brought on by heavy rains and poor infrastructure.
Additionally, scientists have reaffirmed their caution that more extreme weather patterns are being fueled by climate change.
We can’t give up, they say.
According to an AFP reporter, roads in Mokwa were still flooded on Friday, with Husseini claiming his team would need to use excavators to reach victims feared buried beneath rubble.
The town’s residents were still searching for their loved ones. Families were missing a dozen people in some cases.
As long as families are crying out, according to Adamu, the head of the Red Cross, “we can’t give up the search.”
We’ll find some bodies in the farmland on the Jebba side if some were carried away by the floods.
In the busy, rural market town, 151 people were killed, 3, 018 were displaced, 265 homes were destroyed, and two bridges were ejected from the mess.
The house where Mohammed Tanko, a 29-year-old civil servant, was raised, he said to reporters on Friday, “We lost at least 15 from this house.” The property has vanished. We completely lost.”
Floods are made worse by poor drainage, construction of homes on waterways, and the disposal of waste in drains and water channels in Nigeria.
The National Emergency Management Agency stated in a statement that “this tragic incident serves as a timely reminder of the dangers associated with building on waterways and the crucial importance of keeping drainage channels and river paths clear.”
A large group of travelers staying overnight in a Mokwa mosque, according to Adamu, made the search for the missing more difficult. The building collapsed, and where the people were going were still unidentified.
Security forces were helping the disaster response, according to President Bola Tinubu.
A warning was erected.
Between Wednesday and Friday, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency issued a warning about flash floods in 15 of the country’s 36 states, including Niger.
One of the worst flood seasons in decades, according to NEMA, occurred in at least 31 of Nigeria’s 36 states in 2024, killing over 1,200 people and causing 1.2 million to flee.
A 50-year-old yam vendor named Sabuwar Bala described how she escaped the wracking waters as “I was only wearing my underwear; someone loaned me everything I’m wearing right now.” I was unable to even save my flip-flops.
Source: Channels TV
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