Floods leave thousands homeless

Floods described as Nigeria’s worst in 30 years, have left tens of thousands of people homeless in the Niger Delta, news reports said quoting local officials. Reuters quoted Augustine Nwikinaka, a spokesman for the governor of Rivers State, as saying 68 communities had been made uninhabitable in one of four affected areas in the state. The official said crops had been destroyed leaving people without food and that there was fear of an epidemic. An official of the National Emergency Management Agency, which handles disasters, told IRIN she had no information on details of the flooding and could not comment on threats to public health. Asked whether the military was involved in rescue efforts, an official at the Nigerian Defence Ministry told IRIN on Monday that it had not received a request for help. Appeals, he said, would normally have to pass through the chain of authority from the concerned locality to the federal government. “I am not aware they have complained that they cannot cope,” he said. Earlier in October, similar rain-fed floods in the north-western state of Niger forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and destroyed thousands of hectares of crops. AFP quoted local media as saying on Sunday that the federal government had approved 25 million naira (US $250,000) in emergency aid to flood victims in Niger State. Floods have occurred in most other West African countries since July.