More than 600 killed in Nigeria’s worst flooding in a decade
At least 300 people are dead as the worst in a decade of flooding hits a region on Nigeria’s Atlantic coast on Wednesday.
At least 600 people have been killed in the flooding, which has destroyed property and cut roads and rail tracks, the Meteorological Agency warned.
The agency warned of a “potentially life-threatening” situation, saying that the flooding began on Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered homeless by the flooding, as the country’s worst flooding since the 2004 floods hit the city of Jos, where more than a quarter of the country’s population lives.
The flooding hit the city of Onitsha, home to the capital, Abuja, on Wednesday.
The flooding comes three years after torrential downpours flooded some of northeast Nigeria, leaving more than 200 people dead.
Nigeria is one of the most disaster-prone nations and the flooding is just one of thousands of years of rain that has ravaged the country’s land and infrastructure.
This weekend, residents in the semi-autonomous region of Edo state have warned that the region is facing the worst flooding in its history.
Edo state governor Okey Idiaga has declared a state of disaster in the region, and urged residents to stay at home, particularly young children.
But he said people will not be allowed to move from their properties.
“People who are in the habit of moving out should not do so for anything. Leave your children at home. Your children are in a worse state, you cannot get them out anyway. So don’t be seen by anyone, don’t go out.”
He said he called in the army to help with the relief efforts.
“The army has also been deployed to help residents find their houses. Where they have been told to go.”
The flooding comes a week after the nation’s Supreme Court announced a temporary ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol in a bid to stop the country’s worst “party time” floods.
But there is more than enough alcohol for the weekend, especially for people who are celebrating the festival of the harvest.
The national broadcaster announced that beer was on sale on the streets of Jos and Edo, and that people had “ar