ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Severe flooding in northeastern Nigeria has killed 30 people and affected more than a million others, authorities said Wednesday.
The collapse of a large dam in Borno state on Tuesday caused one of the worst floods in the state since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago, forcing many residents to flee their homes. The state government said the dam was full due to unusually heavy rainfall.
The current flood is almost two years after the worst floods in Nigeria in a decade killed more than 600 people.
About 15% of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, was under water, state police spokesman Nahum Daso told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Ezekiel Manzo, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, said on Wednesday that the death toll stood at 30.
“So far, one million people have been affected,” said an adviser to the governor of Borno, adding that the number could rise to 2 million if efforts to document the displaced begin.
Residents of Maiduguri said food has become more expensive since the central market was destroyed in the flood. There are also lingering fears of wild animals after flooding partially destroyed a local zoo and several animals escaped.
Mary Mamza, a resident of Maiduguri, said people are afraid to leave their homes after an escaped crocodile was killed near her house earlier today.
The fears come as West Africa has been hit by some of its worst flooding in decades. More than 2.3 million people have been affected by flooding so far this year, a threefold increase from last year, the UN said.
African countries are losing up to 5% of their GDP every year as they suffer more from climate change than the rest of the world, a new report found on Monday, after one of the continent’s hottest years on record.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, many African countries spend up to 9% of their budgets on climate adaptation policies.
The governor’s adviser stressed that rescue operations are still ongoing and that people displaced by the floods are gathering in a former refugee camp outside the flood zone.
