Nigeria flooding death toll jumps past 200

ABUJA

People stand in a flood damaged area after heavy rainfall in the market town of Mokwa, north-central Nigeria , Monday, June 2, 2025.

Flash flooding in north-central Nigeria last week killed more than 200 people, the Niger state humanitarian commissioner said Tuesday, while hundreds more remain missing and are feared dead.

The town of Mokwa was hit with the worst flash flood in living memory on May 29 from overnight rains, with more than 250 homes destroyed and swathes of the town wiped out in a single morning.

The announcement comes after several days of the official toll standing at around 150, even as residents were sometimes missing more than a dozen members in a single family.

"We have more than 200 corpses," Ahmad Suleiman told Nigerian broadcaster Channels Television, adding: "Nobody can tell you the number of casualties in Niger state right now because up till now, we are still looking for some corpses."

"We're still looking for more," he added. But, he said, "sincerely speaking, we cannot ascertain."

Given the number of people still missing nearly a week later, the toll from a single morning of flooding in Mokwa could be worse than all of 2024 combined, which saw 321 deaths from flooding across the country.

Floods in Nigeria are often exacerbated by inadequate drainage, the construction of homes on waterways and the dumping of waste in drains and water channels.

Volunteers and disaster response teams have recovered bodies nearly 10 kilometers away after they were swept into the Niger River.