Agencies
Abuja
The collapse of a dam in northeast Nigeria has caused severe flooding, destroying thousands of homes and worsening a dire humanitarian crisis.
The flooding in Borno State has affected a million people, the state governor said on Wednesday, straining resources as authorities scramble to rescue residents and place them in temporary shelters.
Heavy rains had caused a dam to overflow on Tuesday, decimating a state-owned zoo and washing crocodiles and snakes into flooded communities. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Maiduguri in Nigeria, said a “stream of people” are currently making their way out of areas covered by the floodwaters.
He said civilians have been searching in the water with limited diving equipment to save as many people as possible.
“We’ve seen dead bodies arriving,” he said, adding that a successful rescue operation saw baby twins saved from the floodwaters and moved to safety.
Local officials said it was the worst flooding in the state in two decades, but authorities have yet to announce deaths.
The dam collapse is compounding a humanitarian crisis in Borno over the past decade due to a rebellion started by the Boko Haram armed group. The rebellion has killed more than 35,000 people, displaced 2.6 million others in the country’s north-east region.
