Floods kill over 30, render thousands homeless

Floods have swept through many villages in Kano State, northern Nigeria, killing more than 30 people and rendering about 10,000 homeless, local officials said on Thursday. Following two days of torrential rain over the weekend of 25-26 August, the Tiga and Challawa dams, fed by the Kano and Hadejia rivers, overflowed and swept through scores of downstream villages and farmlands, they said. The final causalty toll is expected to be higher as the full impact of the disaster becomes clearer, according to local newspapers. Food security is likely to be affected since large swathes of farmland have been flooded. [See separate story titled ‘NIGERIA: Floods leave dozens dead, thousands displaced’]