NIMET issues warning, says more flooding imminent

Nigerians have been warned to brace up for more flooding in some parts of the country as more states will be susceptible to rising water levels as the rainy season continues.

That much information was made public by Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Mashi in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Contnuing, the NiMet boss said there would be a prolonged spell of dry season toward the end of the growing season when there will be no rainfall adding that some crops could be completely washed away, if they were submerged for long period, since they survive on sunshine.

“Those crops that may be able to stand and survive flood may be caught up by the dry spell that will eventually occur and there may be serious damage to crop yields. During flooding, crops are forced to absorb water more than necessary and the implication is that many crops cannot survive and if they survive, the yield will be seriously affected,” Mashi emphasized.

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Continuing, he added that; “Cocoa, for instance, is rain forest crop; but unfortunately, it does not survive in the rain forest areas that receives higher amount of rainfall because of seasonal flooding. If you have serious case of flooding, it means the standing crops will be forced to accommodate water more than they can absorb which will affect the performance of the crops.”

Mashi said that while rainfall was expected to be spread over a long period of time, because it started late, a high amount of it were received in the early part of the season.

He said the implication is that if higher amount of rain is received, it means more rains is received more than what the ground can contain.

“It means that chances of flood generation will be high; we have alerted that there is going to be risk of flooding, especially in areas that there are major rivers.
Recently, you recall that it happened in Tafa in Suleja, because it is within the region of River Gurara and that is why it was vulnerable to flooding,” Mashi added.

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