All but one of 40 people feared to have drowned in torrential flooding in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state have been found alive and well, officials said on Monday.
The local residents were declared missing presumed dead after torrential rains caused a dam to burst on Saturday on the outskirts of the state capital Gusau, sweeping away 500 houses.
Except for one person still missing, all have been found unhurt, a spokesperson for Zamfara state governor told Agence France-Presse by telephone. The spokesperson had on Sunday said at least 40 people were killed and 1 000 displaced in the dam collapse.
”We later found out that these people fled their homes when they sighted the flood heaving towards their houses and sought shelter elsewhere. They later reported to a secondary school where displaced families are provided with temporary shelter,” the spokesperson, Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, explained.
The flood, which officials described as a ”tsunami of a sort”, caused major damage to property and livestock in the area as well as a large swathe of farmland that was almost due for harvest.
Gusau has been cut off from the southern parts of Zamfara state after the flooding caused a major bridge to collapse. — AFP
