20 States Prone To High-risk Flooding In September, NiMet Warns

Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has warned of possible flooding in 20 states across the country due to excess rainfall.

NiMet listed the states that are prone to high-risk flooding this month (September) as Kebbi and Jigawa in the northwest, Borno, Bauchi and Taraba in the northeast, Plateau in north central and Bayelsa in the South-south.

Others are Kano, Adamawa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Imo, Enugu, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Ekiti.

The agency said its warning was based on the rainfall distribution and rainfall amounts recorded in the country last month.

In a statement he issued last night, NiMet spokesperson, Muntari Ibrahim said, ” The saturated state of the soil moisture across the country in the month of July and heavy rainfall recorded in August may put most places to experience varying degrees of flooding activities ranging from high, medium, low and flash flood for the month of September. It further revealed that Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna, Jigawa, Bauchi, Kano, Borno, Gombe and Nasarawa States recorded over 300mm, which represents over 40 percent of long-term normal of those places in one month.

“Places around the southwestern part of the country however recorded less than 200mm as a result of the long dry spell associated with August break over those areas,” he said.

Ibrahim stated that places with major river channels may experience probable high-risk of flood events due to accumulation of water already on the river channels which may not be able to contain any additional water.

However, NiMet advised that State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) should intensify adaptative, mitigative and response mechanisms while states that are expected to experience degrees of various flood episodes are advised to begin their awareness campaigns through field extension workers for possible flood activities within the month of September especially those at high risk areas.