More than 600 killed in Nigeria’s worst flooding in a decade
More than 600 people died in the worst flooding to hit Nigeria in a decade, according to emergency officials. Authorities were scrambling to cope with an onslaught of more than 20cm of water.
More than 600 people are believed to have died in Nigeria’s worst flooding in more than a decade, said emergency officials on Wednesday, as a deluge of rain caused floods that have killed at least 29 people and damaged scores more.
A further 29 have been hospitalised.
“The situation is very dire. The country is being devastated and we need urgent assistance,” NEMA spokesman Emmanuel K. Ogbonnaya told CNN.
He said that about 4,000 people have been displaced as more than 600 people died.
“The main cause of death is drowning, people died in the process of getting to safety. This is an ongoing process,” he said.
The storm has also been blamed for the deaths of 10 soldiers in the southwestern city of Jos, which the soldiers were sent into to help deal with the flooding.
The soldiers were deployed into the city on Monday – a trip that took them through rough terrain to reach the storm that had started to threaten the capital Abuja.
“While some of our soldiers were able to reach the area, it was not safe to enter it, because of flooding and the risks that came from the rain and the flooding,” Colonel Peter Ibarra, spokesman for the Joint Task Force Jos said.
The Nigerian military had been deployed to the city, where at least 10 soldiers were killed on Monday morning, with the force saying it would take “additional security measures” to minimise damage to military installations.
But Ogbonnaya said the military had a plan, adding that troops with an armoured vehicle were in place, as well as trucks and two bulldozers.
He said the military was working with local power
