Deadly floods sweep Nigeria

Torrents of predawn rain unleashed flooding that killed at least 150 people in a market town where northern Nigerian farmers sell their wares to traders from the south, officials said Friday as they predicted that the death toll would grow. The Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency did not immediately say how much rain fell after midnight Thursday in the town of Mokwa, which sits in the state of Niger more than 180 miles (300 kilometers) west of Abuja, capital of Africa's most populous nation. Communities in northern Nigeria have been experiencing prolonged dry spells worsened by climate change and excessive rainfall that leads to severe flooding during the brief wet season. In videos and photos on social media, floodwaters covered neighborhoods and homes were submerged, with their roofs barely visible above the brown currents. Waist-deep in water, residents tried to salvage what they could, or rescue others. Mokwa, nearly 380 kilometers (236 miles) west of Abuja, is a major meeting point where traders from the south buy beans, onions and other food from farmers in the north. A community leader from the Mokwa local government Area, Alhaji Aliki Musa, says this type of flood is seasonal and its not ordinary. “The water is like spiritual water which used to come but it’s seasonal…there’s not much water in Mokwa that will bring that flood,” he said. In September, torrential rains and a dam collapse in the northeastern city of Maiduguri caused severe flooding that left at least 30 people dead and displaced millions, worsening the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram, a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria.