ABUJA, Nigeria (The Informant247) – No fewer than 300 people have died and over 100,000 displaced across Nigeria after recent torrential rains in the past few months caused flooding, officials said on Monday.
“Our record indicates that more than 300 lives have been lost, 500 persons are seriously injured with more than 100,000 others displaced and living either in temporary shelters including schools, other public buildings among benevolent host families,” Mr Mustapha Ahmed, Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), announced at an emergency technical meeting on flood situation in the country in Abuja.
He said that the meeting was convened to urgently review emergency situations and plan for further action by all emergency responders.
According to him, the flood disaster affects 29 states, including the country’s capital city.
He said that the agency would continue to work with the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) to downscale impact-based weather forecasts to the public.
He added that all NEMA zonal, territorial and operation offices had been activated to coordinate resources in their areas of responsibilities to respond to any flood situation.
While calling for the support of state governments, Ahmed said that NEMA had prepositioned food and non-food relief items and started deploying them to affected states.
“I call on all relevant frontline responders to intensify their preparedness efforts, carry out early warning targeting the most vulnerable communities, prepare for evacuation to safer ground and provide all other forms of life saving assistance to persons at risk,” he said.
Written by: Ayatullahi Soliu