2024 Flood: NEMA records 259 deaths, 625,239 displaced as 29 states battle flood disaster

The trend of flood disaster in the country has hit an alarming proportion.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the tragedy has ravaged 29 states, while 172 LGAs have been impacted by the menace. While 1,048,312 people have been affected, about 625,239 have been displaced and 259 lives have been lost.

The Director General of NEMA, Mrs Zubaida Umar disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during national emergency coordination forum meeting.

According to her, the disaster which hit Borno State which is currently battling with the challenge required a coordinated and promot response.

“The current trend of flooding indicated that 29 States and 172 LGAs have been impacted by flooding, affecting 1,048,312 people, displaced 625,239 and have led to the death of 259 lives. This unfortunate and almost unexpected incident requires coordinated response, hence the call for this emergency meeting,” Mrs Umar said.

“As you may all be aware, flood has ravaged many parts of the country with devastating impact in some locations. The latest of which is that of Borno State, where Search and Rescue is currently being carried out by emergency workers,” she said.

Mrs Umaru, however, stressed that flood predictions across Nigeria for this year (2024) had earlier been communicated to various stakeholders by NEMA and other agencies of government given the responsibility.

“Though the flooding may not be totally prevented, efforts are been made to mitigate the impact to the barest minimum,” she said.

” This occurrence is not in total deviation from the predictions as contained in this year’s Annual Flood Outlook released by NIHSA which informed that in the months of July to September, 2024, 33 states and 135 LGAs are within flood high-risk areas, while the period between October and November has 19 States and 44 LGAs.

“The Federal Government, through NEMA commiserates with those that have been affected by the flood disaster and assures them that necessary succour will be provided accordingly.
The main reasons for conveying this meeting therefore are to receive update on the flood situation and to assign roles and responsibilities to all stakeholders to ensure we are all on the same page.”

Mrs Umar added that as a part of on-going efforts, Internally Displaced Persons camps have been activated in some states;” additional staff have been deployed to support Search and Rescue operations; water purification and critical Search and Rescue equipment have been deployed to affected states; while food and non food items are also being provided to support the affected persons.

“To complement these efforts, plans are underway to provide additional relief intervention including medical consumables and medicaments; deploy additional water purifiers; support states to evacuate people at risk; provide additional support to Naval Disaster Response Units; provide additional support for sectoral response; relocate and rehabilitate the displaced population and to carry out in- depth Damage and Loss assessment among others.”

The NEMA DG who appreciated the support of international partners, noted that the situation is not yet too much for the Government of Nigeria to contend with.

“We however encourage partners to continue to carry out their routine assistance to affected people while still monitoring the situation.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, let us utilize this opportunity to further deliberate on efforts to ameliorate the suffering of affected people and also to stem the trend of the disaster across the country,” Mrs Umar said.