AT least 21 people, including minors and women, have been confirmed dead after a flood swept through Tiffin Maza and Anguwan Hausawa communities in Mokwa town, Niger State, in the early hours of Thursday.
The disaster, triggered by a heavy midnight downpour that lasted over five hours, submerged dozens of homes, forcing families to flee for their lives, according to a resident Yunusa who spoke with The ICIR.
Confirming the incident, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) in a statement by its Director General, Abdullahi Baba Arah, stated that over 50 houses were washed away, leaving families homeless and entire communities in shock.
Arah noted that search and rescue operations were ongoing, with Mokwa Local Government Authority, local divers, and volunteers combing through the wreckage for survivors and bodies.
According to him, three people, a woman and her two children, have been rescued and are receiving treatment for injuries and trauma at the Mokwa General Hospital.
“NSEMA is in receipt of a report of a deadly flood disaster that ravaged two communities.
“Twenty-one corpses have so far been recovered of those who sadly lost their lives in the incident while over 10 persons are still missing as search and rescue operation is still ongoing,” he said.
The Chairman of Mokwa Local Government Area, Jibril Muregi, in a separate statement, expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and called on the relevant authorities to swiftly deploy emergency relief and humanitarian aid to the affected areas.
Muregi also stressed that the disaster had led to loss of lives, destruction of homes, and displacement of several residents.
“In the wake of this disaster, we urgently call on the Niger State Government, through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, and the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), to deploy immediate relief materials and humanitarian assistance to the affected areas.
“We also use this medium to appeal to the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project to expedite the long-overdue process of awarding and commencing the construction of waterways in Mokwa.
“This critical infrastructure is essential to mitigating future flood risks and protecting lives and property,” Muregi added.
In 2022, Nigeria experienced one of the worst flooding incidents in decades as 35 states and the FCT were affected by floods, leading to the loss of several lives and damage to properties. Thousands of people were also displaced from their homes and hectares of farmland were destroyed in the process.
Since then, there have also been several flooding incidents in several parts of the nation.
The ICIR reported that no fewer than 259 people lost their lives, and more than 600,000 others were displaced by severe floods across Nigeria in 2024.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M