KANO, Nigeria — At least 50 people have died
in floods caused by exceptionally heavy rains in northern
Nigeria’s Jigawa
state since the start of the wet season in June, an official said Monday.
اضافة اعلان
Jigawa, similarly to other states in the agrarian
region, records flooding every year but this has been the worst deluge it has
experienced, according to the state emergency management agency (SEMA).
“Cumulatively, we have recorded 50 deaths from
flooding across the 27 local governments in the state,” Yusuf Sani, head of
Jigawa’s SEMA told AFP Monday.
“The last few days have been quite challenging as
rain fell for three days non-stop,” Sani added.
Emergency workers had been sent to affected
communities to count the displaced but he estimated they were in the
“thousands”, he added.
Kafin Hausa district has been the worst hit, with 10
people killed, 68 hospitalised and 1,436 displaced — most of them from Balangu
village where 237 houses were destroyed, Sani said.
He said that 11 temporary shelters for the displaced
had been opened, including in schools that are closed for the holiday.
Aminu Ibrahim who lost his home to floods in
Kirikasamma district now lives with relatives in a primary school along with 12
other displaced families.
“We sleep in classrooms on plastic mats provided to
us by SEMA who also gives us some food,” Ibrahim said.
“The rain washed (away) our houses while we were
asleep and we had no time to salvage anything but our lives. We have nothing
left,” he said.
More rain expected
Emergency officials in Jigawa are concerned that the situation could get
worse as more torrential rains are expected in coming days.
There are also
concerns about the imminent release of water from the Komadugu River, a measure
taken by the authorities to prevent the banks from bursting.
“We have asked all
residents of villages along the river banks to evacuate as soon as possible
because the water would be released any moment from now,” said Sani.
In addition, the
overflowing of Tiga and Challawa rivers in Kano state into Jigawa state every
year “substantially aggravates flooding” in the state, said local official
Hamza Muhammad.
The unusually heavy
rains, “which can be attributed to climate change”, had made things worse, he
added.
Other factors
include insufficient drainage, the clogging of river canals by weeds, and
illegal constructions on the waterways, he added.
In 2020 at least 40
people were killed and more than 100,000 hectares of crops were destroyed by
floods in the state, according to SEMA.
In neighboring Kano
state, flash floods have displaced around 3,500 in seven districts since June,
according to Saleh Jilli, head of Kano’s emergency management agency.
In the latest
incident, on August 4, flooding after two days of heavy downpour killed three
people and displaced almost 500 in Ajingi district, said Jalli.
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