More than 100 people have died and several others remain missing after a torrential downpour in the central Nigerian state of Niger, local authorities said on Friday.
Floods submerged the town of Mokwa after the rains began on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning. Ibrahim Audu Hussein, a spokesperson for the state emergency management agency, said rescue efforts were still under way on Friday.
“We have so far recovered 115 bodies and more are expected to be recovered because the flood came from far distance and washed people into the River Niger. Downstream, bodies are still being recovered,” Husseini told the AFP news agency. “So, the toll keeps rising.”
More than 3,000 houses were submerged, he added.
Mokwa, about 230 miles (370km) west of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, is a commercial hub in Niger state, with many traders and heavy-duty vehicles often carrying goods to other regions.
In Nigeria the rainy season usually runs from April to October. On Wednesday the Nigerian Meteorological Agency had issued a forecast of heavy storms for Abuja and 14 of the country’s 36 states including Niger.
Niger, Nigeria’s largest state by landmass, is home to three major dams – Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro – which contribute significantly to the country’s electricity grid. A fourth dam is under construction.
The state has been prone to flooding in recent times. In April, water released from one of the dams destroyed more than 5,000 farms in 30 communities, including in Mokwa. Local news reports suggested it was the sixth flood in the state this year.
In 2022, floods in Nigeria killed more than 600 people, displaced about 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland.
Experts have warned of more extreme weather patterns due to global heating.
