On Friday, at least 111 people were confirmed in the center of Nigeria after the floods overwhelmed the Mokwa profession in the country of Niger in the country following torrential rains, officials said.
The heavy rains lasted for several hours on Thursday, and reports from the media citing local government officials said that a barrage collapse in a neighboring town had aggravated the situation. The flood has moved large amounts of people, according to reports.
The rescuers continued to find more bodies in the afternoon on Friday. Previous reports indicated that 88 people died, but at least 23 additional bodies were found, said spokesperson for the Emergency Agency of the State of Niger, Iibrahim Audu Husseinit, at the Associated Press in the afternoon.
It led to the toll at 111, but it could go higher as research continued.
“More bodies have just been brought and have not yet been counted, but we have already confirmed at least 111,” said Husseini to AP by phone.
“Downstream, the bodies are always recovered. So the toll continues to go up,” he said earlier.
He said that many were still missing, citing a 12 -year -old family where only four members were recorded.
“Some bodies have been recovered in the debris of collapsed houses,” he said, adding that his teams would need excavations to recover corpses under the rubble.
AFP
Mokwa, about 140 miles west of Abuja, is a major meeting point where merchants in the South buy food from northern producers.
In similar phase last SeptemberThe torrential rains and a collapse of the dam in the northeast of Nigeria, Maiduguri, caused serious floods, making at least 30 people who died and moving millions, aggravating the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Nigeria often faces seasonal floods, in particular an impact on communities such as Mokwa along the banks of the Rivers of Niger and Benue. Communities in the extreme north of the country, which are experiencing prolonged drought aggravated by climate change, also see excessive precipitation which leads to serious floods during their brief wet season.
In 2022, more than 600 people Died and more than 82,000 houses were destroyed by floods in Nigeria.
In the videos and photos shared on social media platforms, flood waters cover the districts where the houses are completely or partially submerged, with barely visible roofs above brown currents. Residents are also seen until the end in the water, seeming to save what they can wear or save others.
Mokwa local government president Jibril Muregi suggested that mediocre infrastructure has worsened the flood impact. He called on the government to start the construction of “long -awaited” navigable waterways in Mokwa as part of a climate resilience project.