By Gabriel Ewepu
ABUJA — The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NiHSA) has warned of possible high riverine flooding in Niger, Kaduna and 25 other states within the next seven days due to rising river levels.
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NiHSA, Arc. Umar Mohammed, issued the alert on Thursday, noting that communities located along floodplains should prepare for possible evacuation to safer locations.
According to the agency, the affected states include Niger, Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Kaduna, Kwara, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasarawa, Taraba, Ogun, Kogi, Benue, Ekiti, Osun, Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom.
NiHSA said its forecast indicated that 53 monitoring stations are at risk, with 27 states potentially affected, including 186 communities, 96 schools, 35 health centres, 14 markets, 14 religious centres and several hectares of farmland.
