By Muhammad Amaan
No fewer than 191 lives have been lost to the floods that have ravaged parts of Nigeria, while 94 people remain missing in 2015, a new report from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has revealed.
The report obtained on Tuesday showed that Niger State recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 163 deaths, followed by Adamawa State, where 26 people lost their lives. One death each was reported in Borno and Gombe states.
The data further indicated that, so far this year, the floods have affected 134,435 people across 20 states and 47 local government areas.
The affected states include Abia, the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, and Kaduna. Others are Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, Rivers, and Sokoto.
Additionally, 48,056 people have been displaced, while 239 injuries have been reported. The floods have also damaged 9,499 houses and affected 9,450 farmlands.
NEMA’s dashboard also revealed that among those affected are 27,121 men, 41,539 women, 60,071 children, 5,704 elderly persons, and 1,874 persons with disabilities.
In 2024, the floods affected 5,264,097 individuals, displacing 1,243,638 people across 35 states and 401 local government areas. The disaster resulted in 1,237 deaths and left 16,469 individuals injured.
Also, 116,172 houses were destroyed, and 1,439,296 hectares of farmlands were affected, further worsening the economic and humanitarian impact of the flooding across the country.
Meanwhile, parts of Ogun and Gombe states were ravaged by floods on Tuesday following heavy rainfall that began Monday night and lasted into the early hours of Tuesday.
Also, a night of relentless rainfall plunged parts of Lagos into crisis on Monday, as flash floods swept through residential and commercial areas, stranding thousands and crippling economic activity in Nigeria’s largest city.
The rain, which began late Sunday and intensified through the early hours of Monday, overwhelmed drainage systems and turned streets into rivers across both Lagos Mainland and Island.
By dawn, neighbourhoods such as Ijede in Ikorodu, Lekki, Surulere, Agege, Ajegunle, Alimosho, and Eti-Osa were inundated. Viral videos from Ijede showed families waist-deep in floodwater, wading through what were once roads.
