Relief work is under way in Nigeria, where the worst flooding in a decade has killed at least 600 people and displaced 1.3 million. Authorities are warning of more heavy rains to come.
Floods have destroyed thousands of homes in Lokoja city at the confluence of the Niger and Benue riversImage: Ayodeji Oluwagbemiga/REUTERS
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Flooding in 33 of Nigeria's 36 states has claimed at least 603 lives and left 1.3 million people displaced, according to the authorities.
Nigeria experiences annual flooding, especially in coastal areas, but this year's floods are the worst in more than a decade.
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has attributed the flooding to unusually heavy rainfall and excess water from the Lagdo dam in neighboring Cameroon.
President Muhammadu Buhari this week directed federal agencies to scale up response and intervention efforts to support flood victims.
Permanent Secretary in the humanitarian ministry, Nasiru Sani Gwarzo, told DW that thousands of homes and farmlands were damaged by flood waters.
Across the country, some 450,000 hectares of farmland has been devastated. Last week, Nigeria opened its flood reserve to ensure supplies for the public.
Authorities are also concerned that fear water contamination caused by flooding may facilitate the spread of disease.
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Flood waters in Kogi, Nigeria on October 6Image: Fatai Campbell/AP Photo/picture alliance
Relief camps for flood victims
Habiba Zakar was displaced by the flooding in Jigawa State in Nigeria's north west. Jigawa is one of the worst-affected states.
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Zakar is now in one of the relief camps that has been set up for displaced people around the state.
"My house was washed away by the floods, and I had to leave our village. It was a terrible experience, but we had no option. I had just finished planting rice, but two days later, everything was destroyed," Zakar told DW.
The camp leader, Hajiya Sani, told DW that those being sheltered need food and other essentials.
"Here we have 268 women and 706 children — both boys and girls. The situation is, of course, heartbreaking. You can find a single mother with 10 children but with little to feed them," Sani said.
The displacement of people in flooding is compounding the humanitarian crisis in country's volatile north. More than 3 million people were already displaced in the region, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.
From Nigeria to Pakistan, floods are devastating communities globally
Catastrophic weather events like flooding are becoming more frequent and intense because of human-caused climate change.
Image: Pedro Rances Mattey/AA/picture alliance
Nigeria faces humanitarian disaster
More than 600 people have died in Nigeria's floods, with hundreds of thousands of people still awaiting emergency aid. With 33 out of 36 states hit, the country faces humanitarian risks from disease and food shortages. Floods are a regular occurrence in Nigeria's coastal regions, but these are the worst in more than a decade. Authorities blame heavy rainfall and Cameroon releasing dam water.
Image: Ayodeji Oluwagbemiga/REUTERS
Drought broken by floods in Chad
After a prolonged drought, the most prolific rains in 30 years have left large parts of the central African nation of Chad navigable only by boat. Thousands of people have fled their homes, with cattle herders unable to feed their animals. United Nations agencies estimate the droughts and floods have left 2.1 million people acutely hungry, with food prices skyrocketing.
Image: Mahamat Ramadane/REUTERS
Sri Lanka inundated
At least three people have died in floods in Sri Lanka, with the capital Colombo particularly hard hit. Floods have put parts of the country at high risk of landslides, while more heavy rains are expected in the coming days.
Unprecedented monsoon rains and floods left more than half a million people living in tents across Pakistan and more than 1,700 people dead. Floodwaters are slowly receding, but survivors in regions like Sindh and Balochistan, now face the risk of water-borne diseases. This is due to the destruction of health facilities, standing water, low medicine stocks, and a lack of sanitation facilities.
Image: Sabir Mazhar/AA/picture alliance
Landslides bury towns in Venezuela
Floods triggered landslides and river overflows in Venezuela this month, killing more than 50 people. The government says heavy rainfall has caused the worst weather-related disasters in at least a decade, blaming climate change. More rainfall is forecast across the whole country, including hard-hit Aragua State.
Image: Pedro Rances Mattey/AA/picture alliance
Floods a fact of life in the Philippines
In parts of the Philippines, motorcycle taxis have started modifying their vehicles to cope with repeated flooding incidents. In Hagonoy, outside the capital Manila, rain levels are as high as two meters (6.5 feet) in monsoon season. Earlier this week, a typhoon submerged villages and farmlands across the north of the country.
Image: Eloisa Lopez/REUTERS
Is climate change the culprit?
Catastrophic weather events are becoming more frequent and intense because of human-caused climate change. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture which can result in heavier rainfall. While it's difficult to say just how much climate change contributed to a single event, the overall trend is clear. And the most vulnerable countries are those least responsible for the problem.
Image: Sanjev Gupta/dpa/picture alliance
What can the world do about it?
To keep within the Paris Agreement temperature targets, countries need to rapidly cut emissions, bringing them to near-zero by mid-century. At-risk countries need to build early warning and flood management systems to reduce the impact of climate disasters, including floods. Paying for systems like this will be a major focus of the upcoming UN climate conference.
Image: Branden Camp/AP Photo/picture alliance
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More heavy rain to come
Communities on the banks of the Niger and Benue rivers were forced to evacuate. James Yisa, who farms rice along the Niger, is now counting his losses.
"The floods destroyed my rice farm, and now there is nothing to harvest."
One businessman from the area, Solomon Alao Kazeem, told DW he and his family had to leave for their safety.
"We are traveling to Abuja, but as you can see, there is a traffic jam, and that is why our car is being ferried to Banda so that we can continue," he said.
The banks fo the Niger and Benue rivers burst in heavy rains
Nigeria is bracing for more heavy rains.
"Meetings have been held with the president and governors of the affected states to plan ahead of more rains later this year," Nasiru Sani Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary in the humanitarian affairs ministry told DW.
Humanitarian affairs minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has also warned that five states are still at risk of experiencing flooding by November.
"We are calling on the respective state governments, local government councils, and communities to prepare for more flooding by evacuating people living on flood plains to high grounds," Farouq told the Associated Press (AP).
Uwaisu Idris and Muhammad Bello Ibrahim contributed to this report.
