At least 111 people have died and dozens remain missing following torrential flooding in Mokwa, a market town in north-central Nigeria’s Niger State, officials confirmed on Friday. The flood, triggered by hours of heavy rainfall and the collapse of a nearby dam, destroyed thousands of homes and has left many more in critical need of aid.
Emergency teams are continuing search and rescue efforts amid warnings the death toll could rise. “More bodies have just been brought and are yet to be counted, but we have at least 111 confirmed already,” said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesperson for Niger State’s Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
The disaster struck late on Wednesday when unrelenting rainfall overwhelmed infrastructure in Mokwa, a crucial trading hub that connects food producers in the north with markets in the south. A local operations chief, Husseini Isah, said many residents were still unaccounted for and that survivors were in urgent need of assistance.
Among the devastated residents, 29-year-old civil servant Mohammed Tanko said he lost 15 relatives from the house where he was raised. “The property [is] gone. We lost everything,” he told reporters.
Another resident, fisherman Danjuma Shaba, 35, said his home had collapsed in the floodwaters, leaving him to sleep in a car park. “I don’t have a house to sleep in,” he said.
The flooding comes just days after Nigeria’s meteorological agency warned of possible flash floods across 15 states, including Niger State. Experts say such disasters are becoming more common due to the growing impact of climate change, combined with poor urban planning and inadequate drainage systems.
Floods routinely wreak havoc during Nigeria’s rainy season, which spans about six months. In September 2024, similar weather events in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, killed at least 30 people and displaced millions.
Last year marked one of the country’s deadliest flood seasons in decades, with over 1,200 people killed and 1.2 million displaced across 31 of Nigeria’s 36 states, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
Authorities are urging residents in flood-prone areas to remain alert and have called for urgent investments in infrastructure and climate resilience.
