At least 24 dead as torrential rains flood northern Nigeria

At least 24 dead as torrential rains flood northern Nigeria

2011-06-24 02:05:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

KANO, NIGERIA (BNO NEWS) -- At least 24 people, including children, were killed and many others injured in Nigeria's northern city of Kano after torrential rains flooded the area, collapsing many buildings.

According to the Daily Trust newspaper, more than 100 homes were damaged by the heavy rainstorm in the densely populated Fagge neighborhood, displacing more than 300 people. Resident of the area Aliyu Jibril told the local newspaper that the major cause of the flooding was erection of illegal sheds along the only drainage, which connects Kwarin Gogau to Fagge areas.

"We were sleeping upstairs when the wind started, followed by heavy rainfall. We all rushed down because we fear that the building might have collapse," Alhaji Labaran Umaru, who lost four children in the disaster, said.

"The building first collapsed on my wife but fortunately she was rescued. Hadiza my daughter went back to upstairs to rescue her sisters but in the process the building collapsed on them and they died."

Another resident said the Fagge community has been facing this problem for almost seven years now even though residents have complained to the government many times.

"Fagge Local Government will cooperate with state and Federal Government to address the problem once and for all. We will not allow flooding to consume our people," the interim Management Officer of Fagge Local Government Area, Alhaji Abdulmalik Isma'ila Roggo, said.

According to authorities, more than 500,000 people across the country, mostly in the North, were displaced last year by flooding. The National Emergency Management Agency recently warned state governments in the North to take preventive measures against floods.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-06-24