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Farmland was also flooded, raising concerns about food supplies.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari last week ordered 12,000 metric tons of food from Nigeria’s strategic stockpile for communities affected by catastrophic flooding, DW reported.
About 603 people have died in one of the worst floods in the country’s recent history, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Minister Sadia Omar Farouk said in an update on Sunday.
About 82,000 homes and 110,000 hectares (272,000 acres) of farmland were flooded and destroyed, Farouq added.
The destruction of farmland comes as Nigeria faces rising food insecurity due to high food prices, partly a result of the war in Ukraine.
Buhari said on Monday that the devastation caused by the floods was distressing, adding that in the southern state of Bayelsa alone, 700,000 people appeared to have been displaced.
The Nigerian Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week that some 1.4 million people had been displaced.
Buhari added that 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states were affected by the floods, and all federal agencies responsible for relief and disaster management were asked to step up their response.
The UN says Nigeria is at risk of frequent and intense flooding.
In 2012, rivers burst their banks and flooded swathes of land in 30 states, killing more than 400 people and displacing 1.3 million.
According to the United Nations, more than 200,000 people were affected by floods in 2019, and 158 people were killed.
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