Hundreds of residents from the Moduganari and Bulumkutu wards, as well as other areas in Maiduguri in Borno State, have been forced to evacuate their homes as the raging River Ngadda-Bul continues to break its banks, leading to widespread flooding – and submerged houses.

Most residents have taken their belongings – mostly food and clothing – by boat to get to safety on higher ground. The move is temporary in most cases, but inconvenient. However, people in the affected areas are used to moving because of flooding during the rainy season.

Innami Goni Baba, a resident of Moduganari ward, told RNI reporter Zainab Alhaji Ali that most of the residents had already left. He had stayed behind, so far, because often, if you left, thieves came to steal doors and windows from the deserted houses.

“I have lived in this area for more than 10 years and I have never seen the river as full as it is now. Continuing torrential rain has forced people to relocate.”

He said he had four wives and 11 children who had already relocated. People in more than 40 households in the area had already gone to higher ground.

“Most people take their belongings by boat because the river is so high. People worry about food, but right now we are talking about saving lives.”

He said he knew of someone who had fled, leaving behind his child. “It was shocking. But he later came back for the child.”

Baba said the river had been in flood for 21 days, but it was getting worse.

He said blocked drainage systems and waterways were one of the causes for the rising water levels.

Abdullah Muhammad said: “Every year we know Ngadda-Bul is coming. But this year it is different – it is much more forceful. Even the older people in the community have said they have never seen the river like this before. In years before we would have flooding for a about a week and then it would subside. This time there was flooding for just three days and it stopped. But then it came back in full force, like nothing that had ever been seen before.”

The Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA) had established a flood disaster committee. Abubakar Suleiman, the agency’s general manager, said the government had taken action before the flooding began.

“The Nigerian Meteorological Agency [NiMet] raised the alarm that some parts of Borno State would experience flooding, particularly the Damboa Local Government Area and in Banki in the Bama Local Government Area.

“We drained all the waterways so that the excess water would have somewhere to go. Borno State governor [Babagana Umara Zulum] had given extra funds to improve control of the flooding on roads in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and the Konduga Local Government Area.

“In Damboa we found that the flood had already damaged roads and houses. We can’t give statistics yet because we still have to assess all the areas where flooding has occurred and that could take some time. But the flood disaster committee is still working to clear drainage systems and waterways in all the affected areas.”

Suleiman said it was legal to build houses near the river but people had to realise that they were in the path of the river and that there was always the threat of flooding in the rainy season.

“When we first heard that the river was so high and overflowing and that there was a serious chance that it would break its banks and cause major flooding, we informed the public, putting messages on radio stations and on television. We were particularly worried that people would take their children to swim in the river because it is the holiday season. We wanted to warn them of the dangers and that the swirling and surging water could result in drownings.”

There were also reports of heavy flooding and houses being submerged in the Bulumkutu, Ngomari and Polo areas, where poor drainage systems and waterways existed and where many residents dumped their trash.

Residents were warned that the flooding could result in toilets and latrines overflowing and that the filthy water could result in an upsurge in the number of cases of water-borne diseases.

Last week RNI reported that heavy downpours had left hundreds of internally displaced persons in Kushari homeless.

 Zainab Alhaji Ali