Catastrophic flooding in Nigeria kills 117, destroys thousands of houses

At least 117 people have died and several others remain missing following devastating floods that destroyed thousands of homes in Nigeria’s Niger state.

Ibrahim Hussaini, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, revealed that the death toll had sharply risen from the 21 fatalities reported just a day earlier, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media. 

He added that roughly 3,000 houses were submerged in two affected communities located in the north-central region of Nigeria. 

The flooding began on May 28 night and continued through May 29 morning, with many residents still trapped in floodwaters, according to Hussaini. Nigeria experiences seasonal flooding during its rainy season, which commenced in April. The country faced its worst flooding crisis in over a decade in 2022, when more than 600 people lost their lives, around 1.4 million were displaced, and nearly 440,000 hectares of farmland were destroyed.

By Naila Huseynova