At least 44 people were killed and 20 others are missing following the Sunday flood in the northern Nigeria’s state of Katsina, local media reported Monday citing the region’s Governor Aminu Masari.
Masari added that over 500 houses had been destroyed due to the disaster, according to the Vanguard newspaper. The disaster also reportedly sacked many residents from their homes and shops as their apartments were flooded. The failure of the rain to stop reportedly caused the river channels in affected areas to overflow their banks, sweeping away many vehicles, motorcycles and farmlands.
“It is a purely a natural disaster as the government had constructed drainages that were emptying into Jibia river. The water from the river moved in a reverse order and come back to the town and caused the flooding,” Masari said as quoted by the media.
The flood mostly hit Jibia Local Government Area in Katsina. The rain, which reportedly started on Sunday noon and lasted till the early hours of Monday, destroyed dozens of houses with more than 200 livestock confirmed killed.
The severe rainfall occured less than three weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari visited Katsina, his home-state to commiserate the victims and families of those affected by an earlier rainstorm.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
