Flood disaster in Nigeria: 150 dead and countless missing people!

Flood disaster in Nigeria: 150 dead and countless missing people!

In Nigeria, the number of deaths discovered has increased to 150 due to the devastating floods after day -long salvage work in the Mokwa region was carried out. These severe floods followed for hours of rain on Wednesday and led to the destruction of more than 50 houses that were washed away with their residents. The emergency services report that the difficult rescue conditions delayed the detection of the fully dimensions of the disaster, and the search for the spilled took until the evening of Saturday. The exact number of people still missing remains unclear. Over 1.3 million people were homeless by the floods, which cost over 600 people in several states last year.

Not only Nigeria is affected; In West and Central Africa, millions of people are affected by floods. Over 1,000 people died in the floods, which have been triggered by the heaviest rains for decades. The most affected states include Niger, Mali, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, the South Sudan and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the UN-NOTHILFEAGENT OCHA, almost 600,000 people in Nigeria, in the state of Borno alone, are particularly affected, where a dam broke and collapsed. The rescue operations in the flood areas are ongoing, but the exact extent of the damage and the number of victims are difficult to determine.

international help and humanitarian crisis

The humanitarian situation has deteriorated dramatically, with over 4 million people in West Africa who are affected by floods this year. The World Food Program (WFP) has already set up kitchens to supply the displaced in Maiduguri. USAID has also provided more than $ 3 million in humanitarian aid. In Nigeria, the situation is made more difficult by the continued climate of conflicts and displacement, which also complicated the rescue and support of those affected.

The lack of water and the consequences of extreme climatic extreme events further tighten the emergency situation. The situation in Africa is similarly tense, where there have also been severe floods since October and November 2023. Five unusual rainy times, followed by repeated drought time, have left extremely dry soils that can no longer absorb the precipitation. Countries such as Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan are particularly affected, where more than 3.1 million people suffer from the consequences of the floods.

The forecasts indicate that the situation could continue to deteriorate. Meteorological predictions signal weather extremes until the spring of 2024 due to the weather phenomenon El Niño. In the context of the ongoing climatic challenges, it is estimated that up to 118 million people in Africa could be affected by extreme weather in the coming years, which makes the need for international support and adaptation strategies even more urgent.