At least 200 people have been confirmed dead and 500 more remain missing after flash floods devastated a Nigerian market town, media reported.
Torrential rain started early on May 29, and within just a few hours caused intense flooding in the town of Mokwa, Niger state, a major trading hub for northern farmers selling beans, onions and other crops to southern traders. The town, with a population of 400,000, is 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) west of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
Musa Kimboku, deputy chair of the local government, told the Associated Press that rescue operations have already stopped and those missing are presumed dead. The retrieval of bodies from beneath rubble is continuing in a bid to prevent disease outbreak, Kimboku added.
More than 3,000 people remain displaced after floodwaters and mud completely destroyed houses.
The Niger state emergency service spokesperson told AP that two bridges and two roads were washed away in the floods.
Jibril Muregi, chair of the Mokwa government, reportedly told local news website Premium Times that flood-control infrastructure was long overdue.
Al Jazeera quoted experts saying that climate change, in addition to unregulated construction and poor drainage, had made floods more frequent and severe.
“The amount of rain you expect in a year could probably come in one or two months, and people are not prepared for that kind of rainfall,” Ugonna Nkwunonwo, a flood risk analyst at the University of Nigeria, told Al Jazeera.
The report added that rapid development without adequate urban planning in the town has resulting in buildings being built in flood-prone areas, which in turn reduces the soil’s ability to absorb water.
The United Nations said in a statement published on June 2 that it’s working with the Nigerian government to provide humanitarian aid to affected residents. It cited its weather agency’s report linking the severity of flooding in Africa to climate change and increased surface and water temperatures. Just last year, flooding killed 230 people and displaced 600,000 people in Borno state in eastern Nigeria.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the release of 2 billion naira ($1.26 million) in funding to support the reconstruction of the destroyed homes in Mokwa. Twenty truckloads of food aid will also be sent to the town, Tinubu was quoted saying.
Banner image of Mokwa after the flooding, by the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency via X.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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