Attachments
CONTEXT
Across Nigeria, the advent of this year’s rainy season has led to heavy rainfall, rivers overflowing their banks, and the spillage of water from dams in neighbouring Cameroon, which have contributed to severe flooding in 31 out of the 36 Nigerian federal states. According to satellite analysis conducted by the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) between the 13-17th October, up to 6,600,000 people are potentially exposed to flooding and over 30,000 km2 of land has been flooded across the country. Adamawa State is among the most affected states with an estimated 260,000 people potentially exposed to floods and around a 1,000 km2 of land submerged across the state.
According to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), flooding in the state is mainly a result of heavy rains starting around the 11th of July 2022 and still ongoing (as of 24th October 2022).
Additionally increased water flows from river sources in the Cameroonian highlands have contributed to the river Benue overflowing, leading to the flooding of several communities in Adamawa State. This was compounded by the spillage of water from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon which led to further displacement of people and the destruction of farmland, barns, and other property. According to SEMA, as of the 1st of September, 25 people were reportedly dead, 58 critically injured, 131,638 individuals were currently displaced, and 153 communities in 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) were submerged. According to the 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview, over 2.45 million People in Need (PiN) including Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), returnees and host community populations live in Adamawa State.
Of that number, over 1.1 million are classified as being in either severe, extreme or catastrophic needs severity phases. With these flooding incidents occurring against a backdrop of a complex humanitarian crisis in parts of Adamawa State, this joint multisectoral Rapid Needs Assessment (RNA) is intended to fill urgent information gaps on the effects of flooding on people in the affected areas, and to provide support to the humanitarian response, government and other key stakeholders.