The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency have said States in the North Central and South East should expect more floods.
The Director-General of NiMet, Professor Mansur Matazu stated this in Abuja on Tuesday during the HydroSOS workshop hosted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency in collaboration with the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) with support of the United Kingdom Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
Matazu, while commenting on the impact of floods across the country, said that flooding as a result of rainfall may have reached its peak, added that the opening of dams and other water-holding facilities would still affect the North Central and South Eastern States.
He said: “Every year, water-related hazard affects millions of people globally and causes damages to properties worth billions of Dollars. It is expected that water-associated risks are going to intensify in the coming years as the full weight of climate change begins to bear on our earth.
“You remember, we issued the forecast in February and we followed up with the monthly updates that we’re going to have above-normal rainfall in most of the country.
“So in terms of the rainfall-induced floods, we have seen the peak but remember we told you that this rainwater gets collected into the reservoirs and dams, and whenever they are filled, they get spilled.
“So presently, 13th of September, the Lagdo dam was released. Kainji and Jebba dams were also released. So what we are witnessing now is riverine flooding.
“And from the information we are getting, we are going to see more floods. And now the rain is concentrating on the North Central and the Southern states. So there will be a combination of short-duration, high-intensity rain, with riverine flooding.
“We are going to see more of these floods in the north-central states as we have seen in Kogi and also southeastern and southwestern states as we are beginning to see in Anambra and some of the parts of Southwest.”
