ABUja, Nigeria — On Sunday, a local official from a market town in Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger said that the death toll from terrible flooding was at least 200.
Early Thursday’s torrents of predawn rain sent the terrible flood on Mokwa, about 380 kilometers (236 miles), a significant market and transportation center where northern Nigerian farmers sell beans, onions and other goods to traders from the south.
Musa Kimboku, the deputy chairman of Mokwa Local Government, verified to The Associated Press on Sunday the revised mortality total. Rescue activities have been canceled, he said, since authorities no longer think any survivors exist.
Officials are currently exhuming remains buried beneath the debris in order to stop sickness from spreading, Kimboku said.
Ibrahim Audu Husseini, the spokesman for the Niger State emergency agency, reported on Saturday that further than 3,000 people were displaced and another 11 persons were injured.
The unexpected and strong flood that developed quickly in roughly five hours left roofs hardly visible and surviving occupants waist-deep in water, scrambling to save what they could and rescue others at least 500 homes spread over three neighborhoods.
Husseini also mentioned two bridges felling and two roads being washed away.
President Bola Tinubu expressed sympathies and said he had instructed the activation of an emergency response to assist victims and “accelerate” recovery in a statement on Friday night.
The wet season in Nigeria brings regular flooding. Climate change and too much rainfall causing severe flooding during the brief wet season have been aggravating protracted dry spells experienced by northern Nigerian communities. However, this flood has especially claimed lives in Mokwa, a rural area close to the Niger River.
Aliki Musa, a leader of the Mokwa community, said the people are not accustomed to such flooding.
Jibril Muregi, head of the Mokwa local government district, informed local news outlet Premium Times that long overdue flood control work was under progress.
