These are not the best of times for residents of Maiduguri, Borno State capital as flood on Tuesday submerged hundreds of houses and destroyed lots of properties in the city.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that over 200,000 people were displaced.
An unspecified number of people, including children are still missing.
Many properties including, houses, farmlands and business places have also been destroyed.
The residents, most of who are from Jere Local Government Area, have been forced to vacate their homes.
The flooding followed the collapse of the Alau Dam, which overflowed its banks from about 10 kilometres away into the state capital.
Residential and business areas have been submerged, including the popular Monday Market and thousands of homes and properties, such as the Palace of the Shehu of Borno, Shehuri, Gwange, Adamkolo, Gamboru, Fori, Bulabulin, Post Office areas, Moromoro, and Customs Bridge, among others, have also been affected.
Many of the residents, who spoke to newsmen said they could not locate their loved ones.
They disclosed that the last time such a devastation enveloped Maiduguri and environs was about 30 years ago.
A resident, Fatima Ali, said: “I managed to escape, but my parents and six siblings remain trapped. I want to appeal to the government to do everything humanly possible to rescue them.”
Many traders at the Monday Market watched helplessly as their wares were washed away by the flood.
A sugar and flour trader, Muhammad Bulama said: “Our goods worth billions of naira have been submerged. Just pray for us.”
Ibrahim Jirgi, who covered the 1994 flood incident in Maiduguri for the BBC and the Daily Times, said climate change could be responsible for the latest incident.
“During the 1994 incident, the whole of Maiduguri was taken over by water. People climbed trees to survive and many residents thought that the world had come to an end,” he said.
The Gwange Cemetery in Maiduguri was also washed away, leaving corpses floating in the streets.
Acting Zonal Coordinator, NEMA, Sirajo Garba, said they have placed Maiduguri on high alert following the magnitude of devastation of the flood in the last 24 hours.
He said the agency, alongside others, had worked diligently to rescue victims trapped in flood-affected areas but could not give the number of people killed by the flood.
The Chairman of the Association of Resident Doctors, Abubakar Ngubdo, warned that the state was at the high risk of water-borne diseases as the flood had contaminated the surface water in the affected areas.
“There would be pollution because corpses floated, sewages, septic tanks and refuse dumps are also there. So there would be contamination of water.
“The government should swing into action to prevent epidemic because floods can lead to water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid fever,” he said.
“There is need to provide good camping of the displaced, clean and portable drinking water, toilets and healthcare for them.
“And for those who show early signs of the diseases, they should quickly be attended to medically,” he added.
The General Manager of Sanda Kyarimi Museum Park, Maiduguri, Ali Abatcha, said 80 per cent of the wildlife in the zoo were killed by the flood.
Abatcha, in a statement, said deadly animals like crocodiles and snakes had been washed away into the communities.
He asked the public to be aware and take all the necessary precautions to avoid attacks by the animals.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Government yesterday reopened several Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps to accommodate people affected by the flood.
Thousands of people moving into the camps, prompting aid agencies to assist with the registration of the displaced.
The spokesman of the state police command, Kenneth Daso, in a statement, advised citizens to avoid flooded routes and stay in safer locations.
“Following the devastating effect of the flooding, citizens are advised to avoid flooding routes and stay in safer areas as police and other relevant government agencies are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of lives and property,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kashim Shettima has visited the flood victims in Maiduguri metropolis and Jere, and announced that 50 trucks of rice were underway to the state for distribution.
The vice president, who stated this at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, said the visit was at the instance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The president has given assurance that the federal government would stand firmly behind Borno State toward ameliorating the pitiable condition of our people.
“We are talking to the organised private sector to further reinforce the efforts of Borno State because honestly, Your Eminence, the tragedy that we have seen is way beyond the capacity of Borno State alone to shoulder.
“Be rest assured that, Insha Allah, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is determined to support the governor to address the needs of the people”, he said.
VP Shettima assured Nigerians that the government was working hard to address all challenges confronting the nation.
“The problem of flood is not peculiar to one part of the country; we are facing these challenges right from Bayelsa to Sokoto. Be rest assured that the president has the nation at heart and he will do whatever it takes to salvage the state of affairs,” he said.
