Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received
warnings from the neighbouring Republic of Niger that the present water
level in the River Niger is as high as this time in 2012, a year of
destructive floods.
"If the heavy rainfall continues in intensity and duration within
these regions of the River Niger, it is imminent that flood situation
similar to that of the year 2012 may occur," NEMA Director General
Muhammad Sani Sidi said.
In June, major thunderstorms caused the Iyi-Udele River in central
Nigeria to flood, displacing 5,000 people. In early August, local
disaster management officials in the country's Kano State said that
flooding had left thousands of homes destroyed or damaged.
"Following intense rainfall and rises in water level, the NEMA has
advised communities along the River Niger to evacuate immediately to
safer ground over the likelihood of floods that may occur at any moment
from now," the agency said in a statement earlier this month.
Soon after, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), in
collaboration with the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA),
warned of potential flooding in 11 states across the country between
August and October this year.
"Rainfall in June and July means that soil moisture is near or at saturation levels," the agencies said.
In this particular season, as the world’s climate rebounds from a
major El Nino, the usual summer easterly waves have been late in coming.
These large clusters of thunderstorms develop in tropical Africa during
the rainy season, and are steered westward in the Tropical Easterly Jet
Stream.
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