Lagos:
More than 600 people are now known to have died in Nigeria’s worst flooding in a decade, according to a new toll released Sunday.
The disaster also displaced more than 1.3 million people from their homes, a statement released on Twitter by the Nigerian Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said.
“Unfortunately, more than 603 lives have been lost as of today, October 16, 2022,” said Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq.
Last week’s previous toll stood at 500, but the numbers had risen in part because some state governments had not prepared for the floods, the minister said.
The floods also completely destroyed more than 82,000 homes and nearly 110,000 hectares of farmland, Umar Farouq said.
While the rainy season usually starts around June, the rain has been particularly heavy since August, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
In 2012, 363 people died and more than 2.1 million people were displaced by flooding.
Sub-Saharan Africa is being disproportionately affected by climate change and many of its economies are already experiencing the ripple effects of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Rice producers have warned that the devastating floods could affect prices in the country of some 200 million people, where rice imports have been banned to stimulate local production.
The World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said last month that Nigeria was one of six countries at high risk of catastrophic hunger.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)