Floods swamp communities in the Delta

Municipal leaders in five districts in the Niger Delta where floods have forced people from the homes and destroyed farmland have sent a distress call to the federal government, ‘The Guardian’ newspaper in Lagos reported on Thursday. The affected municipalities are Patani, Oshimili South, Ndokwa East, Burutu and Bomadi, which have had higher-than-average rains in recent weeks. A community leader, Raymos Guanah, told ‘The Guardian’: “There is imminent threat of famine and starvation because crops and farmlands covering hundreds of hectares of land have been submerged by the River Niger.” Earlier this month, heavy rains and the spillage of water from hydroelectric dams in the northwest caused floods in Niger State and neighbouring states.