ABUJA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — Nearly 40 people have been killed and more than 414,000 others affected by the devastating floods that have recently ravaged Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, an official of the United Nations in the African country has said.
Ann Weru, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Nigeria, said in a statement reaching Xinhua in the national capital of Abuja Friday that at least 58 people sustained injuries due to the severity of the devastating flood since Tuesday. Weru said at least 37 people died from the incident, citing data from the National Emergency Management Agency, which mobilized a humanitarian response to the affected area.
Access to hospitals, schools, and markets was hampered by the heavy floods, the UN official said, noting that it also caused damage to infrastructure, including bridges. “Evacuation of people in high-risk areas to safer ground is ongoing, amid concerns about the risk of disease outbreaks,” Weru added.
The floods, which local officials have described as the “state’s worst floodings,” were caused by the collapse of the Alau Dam on the Ngadda River in Borno Tuesday, forcing residents to flee their homes. On Wednesday, the state government of Borno said the dam was at capacity due to unusually heavy rains.
At least 14 official camps, and many informal ones, have been opened for displaced persons. Barkindo Mohammed, head of the State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters Friday that the camps could accommodate over 2 million people. Mohammed said at least 3,683 people trapped in their homes due to the severe floodings had been rescued while confirming that the rescue operation was still underway.
“The rescue operation involves the deployment of boats, canoes, local divers, military and fire trucks, among others. As the water recedes, we are concentrating on those who made distress calls,” the official said. While expressing deep concern over the flooding, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu directed the relevant government agencies to expedite rescue efforts and called for the immediate evacuation of residents in communities overtaken by floods.
