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Abuja, Nigeria, CNN — Weeks of flooding in Africa’s most populous country have killed at least 170 people and displaced more than 200,000, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Disaster Management Authority told CNN on Tuesday.
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Manzo Ezekiel said northern Nigeria was worst affected by the floods, adding that other parts of the country remained at risk as heavy rains continued to swell the waters of Nigeria’s two largest rivers, the Niger and the Benue.
“The pattern of flooding in Nigeria is that it usually happens in the north and then moves to the center and south … because the water flows downward,” Ezekiel said. “We will soon see similar flooding in the center in the next few days and even towards the south.”
Ezekiel said that while parts of Nigeria are prone to flooding during the rainy season, this year’s floods also occurred in areas that rarely flooded before.
“What’s happening is that some places that were not previously prone to flooding are now experiencing flooding due to climate change,” he told CNN.
Environmentalists blame the country’s annual flooding in part on poor drainage infrastructure.
In 2022, floods across the country killed more than 600 people, the worst flood disaster in the West African country in more than a decade.
Authorities blamed the flooding on above-average rainfall and overflowing from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam.
Last week, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) warned that flooding from neighbouring Niger and Mali was “expected to gradually enter Nigeria”, while urging states along the Niger River to remain vigilant.
The country’s meteorological agency NIMET also warned of the risk of flash floods across the country.
According to the latest data shared with CNN by the Disaster Management Agency, the recent floods have left nearly 2,000 people injured and more than 100,000 hectares of farmland destroyed.
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