ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) – Houses have been swept down to the last brick. Prisoners fleeing the city’s main prison as its walls are being eroded by water from an overflowing dam. Dead bodies of crocodiles and snakes float among human bodies on highways.
As torrential rains in Central and West Africa caused the worst floods in decades, residents of Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s fragile Borno state – which has been at the center of an Islamist insurgency – said they had seen it all. .
The floods, which have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands across the region this year, have worsened the existing crises in the worst-affected countries: Chad, Nigeria, Mali and Niger. More than four million people have been affected by floods so far this year in West Africa, a three-fold increase from last year, according to the UN.
As rescue operations are still ongoing, it is impossible to give an accurate number of lives lost in the water. So far, at least 230 have been reported dead in Nigeria, 265 in Niger, 487 in Chad and 55 in Mali, which has seen its worst floods since the 1960s.
Although Africa accounts for a small proportion of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is among the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, the World Meteorological Organization said earlier this month. In sub-Saharan Africa, the cost of adapting to extreme weather conditions is estimated at between $30-50 billion per year over the next decade, the report said. It warned that as many as 118 million Africans could be affected by extreme weather by 2030.
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, was under heavy pressure. In the last decade, Borno has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks by Boko Haram, who want to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria and have killed more than 35,000 people in the last decade.
Saleh Bukar, 28, from Maiduguri, said he was woken up by his neighbors last week at midnight.
“Water is everywhere!” he remembered their loud screams when they talked on the phone. “They were shouting: ‘Everyone get out, everyone get out!’ The elderly and the disabled do not know what is going on, he said, while others remain. Those who did not wake up in time drowned immediately.
Local authorities are overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster: more than 400,000 people in Nigeria have been displaced, and at least 240 people have died.
Last week, floods killed about 80% of the animals in the Borno State Museum Park and an undisclosed number of reptiles survived. The city’s main prison was so badly damaged that hundreds of prisoners escaped. The water destroyed the walls of the local police station and other government offices.
The World Food Program has set up food kitchens for refugees in Maiduguri as well as emergency food and cash assistance for people in the most affected areas. USAID said on Wednesday that it has provided more than $3 million in aid to West and Central Africa, including $1 million provided after the floods.
But many say they are left to their own devices.
Floods in mostly dry Niger have affected more than 841,000 people, killed hundreds and displaced more than 400,000.
Harira Adamou, a 50-year-old single mother of six, is one of them. He said the floods destroyed his mud house in the north of Agadez city.
“The rooms were destroyed; the walls fell,” he said. “It is very dangerous to live in a mud house but we don’t have a way to build concrete.”
Adamou, who is unemployed and lost her husband four years ago, said she has never received government support and has not found the opportunity – or the means – to emigrate. She and her children are living in a temporary shelter near their broken house, and are worried that heavy rains may return.
“I understood that there is a change in the climate,” he said. “I have never seen as much rain as this year here in Agadez.”
In Maiduguri, 15% of the city remains under water, according to local authorities. With forecasters predicting more rain across the region, Nigerian authorities warned earlier this week that more flooding is expected.
Bukar said that he has been going back to check if the water has subsided and swallowed his house, but until now. He said he has never received any help from the authorities apart from some food given at the local school, where he is sheltered along with 5,000 others.
He tries to stay sane by helping others. Together with his friend, he helped recover 10 bodies and rescued 25 people, rowing the streets in a boat. He said he also helps by cooking food for those who have taken shelter.
“I volunteer to help, but I am also a victim,” he said, “Our people need us.”
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Prondzuk reported from Dakar, Senegal.
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