As Borno State confirms the flood has affected more than two million people in Maiduguri and its environs, UN warns of outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases. 

The United Nations says there is a very real danger of cholera outbreaks within Maiduguri and its environs after a devastating flood ruptured sewerage and drainage systems and contaminated water.

Bodies were dislodged when the cemetery was flooded.

As trapped individuals clung to the tops of trees and waited on roofs to be saved, residents and rescue workers reported seeing corpses floating in the floodwaters. The bodies of dead wild animals, which had escaped from the flooded zoo, were also seen.

Properties worth billions of naira were destroyed in the deluge. Toilets were washed away and refuse carried and dumped by the swirling water.

At least two million people have been affected by the flood, with more than 400,000 displaced and 77 dead.

Apart from 37 bodies confirmed by the National Emergency Management Agency to have been recovered on Tuesday, a source from the flood prevention committee told RNI that 40 more bodies were found on Thursday.

CAUSE OF THE DEVASTATING FLOOD

The collapse of the Alau Dam on the Ngadda River on Tuesday, September 10, caused the worst flooding in the metropolis and its environs in 30 years.

Houses, schools, hospitals, government offices, a zoo, worship centres, a cemetery, banks, markets and commercial areas in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and its environs were flooded.

About 70% of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, was affected.

By Thursday, even though the floodwaters had started to subside, 40% of the city was still under water and many people were trapped.

Hundreds of thousands are taking refuge in makeshift displaced persons’ camps set up in the city and surrounding areas.

Riverine areas started flooding on Monday, September 9.

By Tuesday, the Alau Dam, the primary source of drinking water for Maiduguri and surrounding areas, including the Jere Local Government Area, had reached capacity. A collapse resulted in it overflowing.

Mohammed Zanna, the acting managing director of the Chad Basin Development Authority (CBDA), told RNI that one of the spillways of Alau Dam collapsed, leading to a significant increase in water flowing downstream, which resulted in the disastrous flood.

On Wednesday, Zanna said the floodwaters had started “drawing back” and motorists were able to use some of the roads.

The Borno State government disclosed that the Alau Dam would be reconstructed to hold greater water volume. It said structures erected next to the river and in flood-prone areas would be demolished to avoid a recurrence of the devastating flood in future.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

Volunteer workers, international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the military and other security operatives – including members of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) – and employees of both the state and national emergency management agencies have been helping to rescue flood victims.

They joined forces at displaced camps to distribute urgently needed humanitarian aid and relief materials, including cash, shelters, mattresses, food and clean drinking water.

A humanitarian crisis of gigantic proportion threatens.

Traumatised flood victims have gathered at displaced camps set up in Bakassi, Dolori, the Teachers’ Village, the Galtimari Secondary School, the Asheikh Jarma Mega Primary School and the Yerwa Government Girls Secondary School – and many others – desperately seeking assistance.

Ya Fatima Sheuri, originally from the Goni-Damgari area, is taking refuge at the Yerwa Government Girls Secondary School.

“Our home was totally submerged. We managed to get to the school and we will be staying here until we can return home.

“The Borno State government has given us ₦10,000 and sachets of water. But we have no food to eat. The shelters are not adequate and we are being plagued by mosquitoes in the camp.”

Fanta Goniram is also at the Yerwa camp. She told RNI that she had not eaten for two days since the devastating flood forced her family to flee their home.

“The state government has given us ₦10,000 but we need food and water. We also need proper shelters and the camp does not have adequate toilet facilities.”

Aisha Mustapha told RNI that many flood victims had not received the humanitarian support promised by the government.

“We were displaced by the flood in the Gangamari area. All our houses were submerged. When we arrived at the Yerwa camp, the officials refused to let us into the camp. They told us only the people that had spent the night in the camp were allowed to stay.

“Because we arrived in the morning, they would not let us in. So we did not get the ₦10,000, food, water and shelter that the others received.”

Lawan Abba Wakilbe, the Borno State commissioner of education, told RNI there were more than 20,000 flood victims being housed at the Yerwa Government Girls Secondary School.

He said officials from the state and national emergency management agencies (SEMA and NEMA) were distributing food, water, shelters, mattresses and blankets.

“The Borno State government has distributed cash support of ₦10,000. Token or cards were given to displaced persons ahead of food distribution that started on Thursday.

“We collected all the data of those in Yerwa –including what relief aid they received. When people outside the camp heard that displaced persons in the camp had received humanitarian aid, other people came in their droves. That’s when access was denied.”

Wakilbe said the emergency agencies were trying to provide more tents.

They were also collaborating with the healthcare sector to make more doctors available to treat flood victims.

“We are aware that the lack of clean drinking water is a problem. Water purification plants are being mobilised for Maiduguri.”

RISK OF CHOLERA OUTBREAK

The United Nations (UN) has warned that outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases are “extremely likely”.

Malaria was also likely to escalate. And the number of malnutrition cases, already at record-high levels before the flood, would increase.

Ruptured sewerage systems, blocked and overflowing drains, and contaminated water added to the risk of disease.

Most of the displaced persons’ camps lacked adequate toilet facilities. As a result, flood victims were defecating in the open.

A report released by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the immediate needs were food, protection, shelter and clean water, adding that some contaminated water sources could to lead to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera.

“The immediate needs are food, shelter and clean water. With some water sources contaminated, protection remains a major concern, especially among unaccompanied and separated children, older persons and people living with disabilities.

“Intermediate needs include non-food items and interventions to prevent the outbreak of diseases such as cholera in congested sites. The floods have also affected nutrition stabilisation centres treating severely malnourished children in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) and the Jere Local Government Area.

“Beyond MMC and Jere, the Dalwa community in the Damboa Local Government Area is also affected, with the Bama and Gwoza local government areas similarly reporting flooding.

“Before the recent flash floods, almost 123,000 people in Borno State had been affected by floods and windstorms since August.

“The floods have destroyed critical infrastructure and heightened the risk of disease outbreaks especially in overcrowded IDP camps.”

OCHA said floods had damaged tens of thousands of hectares of farmland ahead of the harvest season, amid record spikes in food and fuel inflation.

The damage could elevate food insecurity in coming months.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said it was providing hot meals to the worst-affected children, women and men who had lost their homes in the flood.

“Maiduguri is facing a crisis within a crisis, with conflict, record food price inflation and now floods displacing hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom were already cut off from their farms,” said David Stevenson, WFP’s country director and representative.

The WFP has established food kitchens in three camps – Teachers’ Village, Asheikh and Yerwa – to provide meals to flood-hit people over the next two weeks. The kitchens were providing nutritious cooked rice and beans to affected families.

Specialised nutritious foods were being provided to children, pregnant women and nursing mothers to cover their nutritional needs.

WFP dispatched UN humanitarian air service (UNHAS) helicopters to conduct an interagency aerial assessment of damage in Maiduguri and its surroundings. The rapid assessment showed that the immediate needs of the affected people were food, shelter and clean water.

“What we have seen from the air is just terrible. Thousands of people are on the streets or staying with friends and relatives. The city has been hit by massive destruction to properties and livelihoods. We need urgent global support to save lives,” Stevenson said.

To ensure continued support to flood-affected people in Maiduguri and other food-insecure people in the northeast for the next six months, WFP urgently required US$147.9 million.

CASUALTIES AND MISSING PERSONS

The death toll is 77. However, rescuers and emergency agencies expect that figure to increase.

Numerous people are missing and rescue efforts are not even nearly complete.

The number of people affected by the flood has risen from one to more than two million.

On Thursday, flood victims were still being rescued from trees and rooftops.

RADIO, TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Many residents of Maiduguri have expressed dismay at the lack of adequate state-of-the-art rescue craft.

Zanna Bukar said on Facebook: “I don’t understand the meaning behind SEMA (Emergency Management) when they don’t have a single speed boat and life jackets that may be required for flood emergencies.”

Abdulmutallib Abubakar said: “I am partially disappointed. But I am still respectfully pleading, hoping and strongly urging the Borno State government, federal government, SEMA, NEMA, the Nigerian Armed Forces and indeed all concerned agencies and organisations to please rescue our people who are trapped along the Gamboru-Dikwa road as a result of the flood in Maiduguri.

“Despite the so-called presidential directive, the visit of the vice-president, the presence of many national and international NGOs and development partners, we do not have a single speedboat or chopper to rescue our people.

“Oh Allah! We need your urgent help. Governments, we still rely on you. Please don’t allow more people to continue suffer or die.”

Alhaji Mamman Tuski said on Facebook: “We are urgently requesting a massive rescue team to be deployed to Dikwa Low-cost along the Chad Basin Road in Maiduguri.

“Following the devastating flooding in the area, we have been unable to contact many of our friends and loved ones for over 24 hours as their phone numbers are not reachable.

“The situation is critical and we fear for the safety and wellbeing of those still unaccounted for. Please send immediate assistance to help locate and rescue anyone stranded or in need of help in this area. Time is of the essence and we implore you to act swiftly to prevent any further harm. Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.”

Ya Chilla Bukar, a resident of Maiduguri, told RNI that two of her sons and five others were trapped in the Tandari area, where they had spent almost three days on the rooftop of their house without food and water.

“We have contacted the rescue team, the state commissioner of information and internal security and they even attempted to send a rescue mission, with the support from the military, but all in vain because the area is inaccessible due to the high level of the floodwater.”

NEMA said an unspecified number of people were still trapped around 505 Estate and the DSS quarters.

Onimode Bandele, NEMA’s director of planning research and forecasting, said on television on Thursday that rescuers were attempting to get people out.

“The latest report this morning is that people who live around 505 and the DSS quarters are still trapped, so the effort is ongoing to get these people out.”

Ya Zara Bukar, a trapped mother who lost two of her children in floodwater in the Gamboru area, said on RNI’s special phone-in programme, Linking Families: “As I’m speaking to you right now this early morning [Thursday] two of my kids died and I don’t know what to do with their bodies. Their dead bodies are in front of me.

“I’m not the only person trapped. We are many and among us there are pregnant women. All of the women and the kids are falling sick; anything can happen to them at any moment.

“We haven’t eaten for days and we can’t move. We spoke to the rescue team, but we were told that our location is very complicated but they are working on our rescue. From where we are now, we can smell the odour of dead bodies because many of them have started to decompose.”

Babakura Mamman Gadai, the executive director of the Borno State Agency for the Coordination of Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Response, told RNI that they are working hard to rescue all stranded people.

“The number of people trapped is unprecedented and that makes the process slow.

“We recently received support from the governments of the neighboring states of Yobe and Adamawa and their rescue teams have arrived. Things will be better very soon. I received information on Thursday that one trapped woman gave birth and she needs to be rescued with her baby.”

SHETTIMA LAWAN MONGUNO