GIF showing before and after images of a flooded school and neighbourhood. [Maine Photography Sept 2024/Google Earth May 2024]
A catastrophic flood has swept through Nigeria’s Northeastern state of Borno, impacting more than one million people and displacing over 400,000, as reported by authorities.
The severe flash floods submerged communities in Maiduguri and Jere after the Alau Dam, located in neighbouring Konduga, suffered a breach due to structural damage and relentless rains from upstream areas.
The Alau Dam, built on the Ngadda River, meanders through Maiduguri and into the Jere Bowl before flowing into Lake Chad. The river itself is fed by the Yedzeram and Gombole rivers, which converge in the Sambisa forest.
Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping of the Flood in Maiduguri. Copernicus Emergency Management Service. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2024 from https://emergency.copernicus.eu/
This disaster further exacerbated the already precarious humanitarian conditions in Borno, with flooding reported in areas like Fori, Galtimari, Gwange, Bulabulin, and the El Miskin camp, which houses approximately 7,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Public infrastructure and facilities, including roads, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, and the local zoo, were severely affected. The damage to the zoo’s enclosures led to the escape of animals. The flood disaster highlights the importance of climate security and investment in the capacity to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events.
The response
Civil society organizations and community members have been mobilising to support the flood response, while government agencies, including the emergency services and military, assisted in evacuating residents from high-risk areas. However, the response to the disaster has been inadequate.
Many evacuees were moved to schools and displacement camps, some of which had hosted victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
On September 10, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that approximately 50,000 people were evacuated to the former Bakassi IDP camp. Other temporary shelters included the Dalori IDP camp, the Asheik Jarma school, and the Muna IDP camp, which was already hosting over 50,000 displaced persons
The DVED project processed images obtained from Google Earth and open source to identify some of the affected built up areas and infrastructure that were submerged.
