Hundreds of Houses Damaged in Northeast Nigeria Flood

Potiskum, Nigeria – Torrential rains have triggered severe flooding in the northeast Nigerian town of Potiskum, damaging hundreds of homes, according to emergency authorities and local residents. The incident was reported to AFP on Friday.

Weather authorities in Nigeria had issued warnings just last week, noting that parts of 21 out of the country’s 36 states were at risk of flooding due to seasonal rains.

The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) reported that over 200 houses were damaged, while a local civil servant estimated that 500 homes were severely affected following overnight rainfall. Thankfully, no deaths were reported.

Mohammed Goje, executive secretary of Yobe SEMA, said that response teams were currently in the field, and preliminary estimates suggested that around 600 people were impacted by the flooding.

“Some homes have been completely washed away, some partially washed away, but most of them are not habitable,” Goje told AFP. He added that only a few injuries had been reported.

A local resident, Dauda Magaji, a 56-year-old civil servant, said: “More than 500 homes were damaged completely. Neighbours left their houses crying for help after seeing everything destroyed.”

Goje explained that recent rains had caused the nearby river to rise significantly. Both he and Magaji noted that blocked drainage systems exacerbated the flooding.

Heavy rains typically sweep across Nigeria from June to November, frequently causing dangerous floods, particularly where poor infrastructure and inadequate drainage systems worsen the impact.

Earlier this year, hundreds of residents were killed when a flood struck the north-central town of Mokwa in Niger State. Local accounts revealed that culverts were blocked by debris, causing rainwater to build up behind clay walls, which eventually collapsed.

Scientists have warned that climate change is intensifying extreme weather patterns, making such floods more frequent and severe across Africa’s most populous nation.