Seven persons have died in the last four days in the flood caused by heavy rainfall in Niger State.

Seven local government areas are experiencing the negative impact of the rainfall, which has lasted for four days unstopped.

The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Mallam Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, disclosed these to newsmen in Minna.

According to him, six people died in Magama local government area while one person died in Rafi local government.

He said several others have been rendered homeless as a result of the flood.

NiMet had predicted four days of heavy rainfall in five states with Niger included.

“The state has started experiencing the negative impact of the flooding with houses, farmlands, bridges and some linked roads washed away in some LGAs located at up and downstream of the four dams.

“These rendered many homeless and have affected the socio-economic activities of the communities. The local government areas include Lavun, Magama, Rafi, Kontagora, Gbako, Mashegu and Wushishi,” he said.

He called on the people living in riverine areas to relocate to safer grounds that have already been identified urging residents across the state to avoid dumping refuse in drainages and limit their activities around the river banks during this period to avoid being flooded.

Inga also cautioned against people standing under trees during rainfall and staying in substandard structures as the heavy rainfall is predicted to be accompanied by violent windstorms.

In a related development, Kontagora town has been overtaken by flood as the heavy downpour has displaced residents and made people lose properties, businesses and farmlands.

It was gathered that the flood affected residents of Unguwan Yamma, Sabon Gari, BCG, and Mayanka which are all inside the Kontagora town.

The Kontagora incident was as a result of the heavy downpour which occurred on Wednesday night into Thursday morning entered the homes of people and several of them are yet to get the water out of their homes.

A businessman, who is into fish rearing, Malam Musa Umar, said that he lost more than 6,000 fishes to the flood apart from other valuables which he lost.

The residents of Kontagora have called on the state government to intervene and help them in alleviating the impact of the flood.

The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) confirmed the incident in Kontagora saying that they are still conducting an assessment of the damage caused by the flood. (The Nation)

Meanwhile, no fewer than six people have been reportedly killed and hundreds displaced by floods that ravaged some communities in some parts of Plateau State.

Some members of the State House of Assembly whose communities were affected by the flood disclosed this at the plenary as a matter of urgent public importance.

The member representing Pankshin North, Philip Dasun, pointed out that the torrential rain which lasted for several hours killed three people at Yelleng Community in his constituency and destroyed several houses.

His counterpart representing Jos North-North, Ibrahim Baba Hassan, disclosed that two people died due to floods in his constituency and many others were hospitalised, adding that the flood also destroyed many properties.

According to him, the rain on Wednesday led to heavy floods and wreaked havoc in Rikoss, Gengere and some other parts of his constituency.

Also, the member representing Langtang South Constituency, Sohchang Zingtim, also said one life was lost from his constituency on the 23rd of August as a result of the flood and the impact of the damage on his people is great. He called for an urgent intervention by relevant emergency assistance agencies.

The Hon. Zingtim, therefore, called for emergency humanitarian assistance to the survivors and victims’ families. The members noted that hundreds of their constituents had been displaced by the flood that destroyed their houses.

The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Yakubu Sanda, sympathized with the victims and directed the issue to the House Committee on Environment to visit the affected communities to ascertain the level of destruction and report to the house. (Pieced together from reports by The Nation and Nigerian Tribune)