Nigerian flooding kills 5, displaces 73000

Flooding in Nigeria’s central state of Kogi killed five people and displaced 73,000, Red Cross officials said Tuesday. The chairman of the state’s Red Cross society, Mustapha Allah-Dey, said that five bodies had washed ashore on the Niger River in Lokoja and been recovered. The flooding in the west African country was caused by the release of water from two dams in the northern state of Niger and one dam in the central Kwara state, according to Alice Ogedengbe, executive secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency. She said the situation had been exacerbated by the release of water from Lagdo dam in neighbouring Cameroon. The flooding left homeless the residents of nine communities, who were being sheltered in 20 temporary camps. In August, at least 30 people were killed in central Nigeria’s Plateau state, when floods said to be the worst in 50 years followed torrential rains, dpa reported.