More than 150 people have been killed and thousands displaced after floods devastated parts of central Nigeria, local authorities said, as rescue teams continue to recover bodies and search for the missing.
The flooding struck the rural town of Mokwa in Niger State following torrential rains that began late on Wednesday and continued into Thursday.
The death toll has risen to 151 after more bodies were recovered nearly 10km (6 miles) from Mokwa, said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) on Saturday.
The death toll is in reality likely to be higher, said Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Mokwa.
“The usual thing is when an official tells you 151 are dead or missing, you are likely to multiply that by two, three or four,” said Idris.
At least 3,018 people have been displaced, while 265 houses were “completely destroyed” in the floods, he said, adding that many victims were believed to have been swept down the Niger River, warning that the toll could still rise.
President Bola Tinubu extended his condolences overnight and said search-and-rescue operations were ongoing with the support of Nigeria’s security forces.
“Relief materials and temporary shelter assistance are being deployed without delay,” he wrote in a post on social media.
“We lost everything, the families. We don’t have anywhere else to go, the property has gone,” Mohammed Tanko, a local, told Al Jazeera. “We lost at least 15 from this house.”
Another survivor said: “I escaped with only my nightdress. Right now, I can’t even identify where our home used to be.”
“The grim task of recovering bodies and what little the residents and victims of this disaster can is what’s been going on since we arrived here in the early afternoon,” said Idris, standing in front of a dilapidated house as children and adults alike dig for belongings and bodies.
“When we arrived here, we were told by locals that when the floodwaters started coming in Mokwa, more bodies were flowing in from more villages upstream and so this used to be where homes were. Several homes, over 300 of them, were washed away or completely destroyed by the flood waters,” said Idris, as clothes and residents’ other belongings lied scattered in piles across the ground.
Residents believe that the floods may have been caused by “a bigger problem upstream, maybe a dam burst, but up to now officials are not confirming that”, said Idris. “But the amount of water that came into this community is so much that nobody had any time to prepare to evacuate.”
More rains feared
Meteorologists warn that more rain is expected in the coming days, raising fears of further flooding across the region.
Flooding is a regular threat during Nigeria’s six-month rainy season, but experts say the frequency and severity of these disasters are increasing due to climate change, unregulated construction, and poor drainage infrastructure.
“Flooding has become an annual event, between the months of April and October,” Ugonna Nkwunonwo, a flood risk analyst at the University of Nigeria, told Al Jazeera.
He warned that while flood risks have long been identified, “there has not been much political power to implement this change”.
“This flooding is a result of climate change, which is affecting the frequency and intensity of rainfall,” he said. “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.”
Last year, more than 1,200 people died and up to two million were displaced by similar disasters across Nigeria.
“This tragic incident serves as a timely reminder of the dangers associated with building on waterways and the critical importance of keeping drainage channels and river paths clear,” the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.
