At least 30 people have been killed and 400,000 displaced by massive floods that drowned the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri this week, rescue services said tonight.
Thousands of homes were flooded on Tuesday after the Alaou Dam broke on the Ngada River, 20km south of Maiduguri.
Today, a day after torrential rains and the breach of the dam, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (NEMA), Ezekiel Manzo, said more than 400,000 people have been displaced and “at least 30 dead”.
The final toll could be heavier, warned NEMA director general Zubaida Umar as rescuers continued their work in the area.
Maiduguri, the regional capital of Borno State, is experiencing one of its worst floods in 30 years, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.
“It’s horrible, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, to be forced to leave your home with only the clothes you’re wearing,” Aisha Aligou, a woman staying in one of the eight camps he set up, told AFP. NEMA for those affected.
“I have nowhere to go, I can’t contact my family, I haven’t seen any of my siblings, no one answers the phone,” said Mariam Moussa, who also became homeless, with tears in her eyes.
Zubaida Umar said 40% of the city has been affected. “We are still rescuing people and in the end we may have a million displaced,” he told the BBC.
NEMA has sent rescuers in canoes to remove those trapped in the waters, tankers to distribute drinking water to the affected and mobile clinics and doctors to care for the displaced.
“We have decided to give 10,000 naira (about €5.5) to every head of a family, male and female. Then, we will distribute food and other items to everyone,” said Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, who visited an IDP camp today. “Now we will have to reconstruct and strengthen the dam and increase its capacity,” he added.
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