Nigeria Floods Claim 151 Lives, Displacing Thousands from Homes

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Debris from destroyed homes in the Anguwar Hausawa Gangari community, following devastating flooding that resulted in 151 fatalities and displaced thousands in Mokwa, Niger State, Nigeria, on May 31, 2025. — Reuters

Flooding in Mokwa overnight leads to extensive rescue efforts.
Nigeria braces for seasonal flooding as the rainy season commenced in April.
The 2022 floods resulted in 600 deaths, displacing millions and devastating vast agricultural land.

This week, catastrophic flooding in Niger State, Nigeria, has claimed the lives of 151 individuals and forced thousands to evacuate their homes, as reported by an emergency official to Reuters on Saturday.

Ibrahim Audu Hussaini, the director of information at the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, updated the death toll, which had previously been reported as 117 the day before.

He noted that more than 500 households were affected, with over 3,000 people displaced.

The flooding in Mokwa occurred overnight from Wednesday to Thursday and rescue teams are still sifting through mud and debris in their search for victims days later.

Nigeria is susceptible to flooding each rainy season, which commenced in April.

In 2022, the country experienced its worst flooding in over a decade, resulting in more than 600 fatalities, displacing approximately 1.4 million individuals, and destroying 440,000 hectares (about 1.09 million acres) of farmland.