The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NiHSA) has warned that flooding across parts of the country could continue until September, with conditions expected to worsen in August if urgent preventive measures are not implemented.
The agency's Director-General, Umar Mohammed, disclosed this in an interview with Sunday Vanguard through Emmanuel Tuna, Head of NiHSA's Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Department.
According to Mohammed, the agency had accurately predicted the current flooding months in advance and issued early warnings to relevant authorities.
“This is something we foresaw; we saw it coming,” he said.
“As we speak now, with the flooding happening, if nothing is done, this is just the start of the rainy season. Between July and September, the situation could be worse than what is happening right now. We are expecting it to be worse around August and September, particularly in August.”
Mohammed also expressed concern over the impact of prolonged flooding on access to safe drinking water, revealing that the agency had conducted baseline assessments of borehole water quality before the onset of the rainy season.
According to him, NiHSA plans to carry out post-flood water quality assessments to determine the extent of contamination and identify pollution sources.
“We were concerned about drinking water because we expected the flooding to last for a long period,” he said.
“So we started analysing the quality of the water before the floods, and we have our reports. Now that flooding is happening, we intend to carry out post-flood assessments to confirm what is polluting the water and identify the sources.”
The NiHSA boss identified Lagos State as one of Nigeria's most flood-prone areas due to a combination of urban, riverine and coastal flooding.
He attributed the severity of recent flooding in the state to blocked drainage systems, silted waterways, low-lying terrain and rising river levels.
Mohammed warned that flooding is likely to occur intermittently over the next few months before conditions begin to improve.
“We are expecting this flood to be on and off from July to September. Around October, we expect the rains to begin receding. The only time we can confidently say we are relatively safe is around November,” he stated.
The Director-General also criticised state governments for allegedly failing to act on the agency's annual flood outlook and repeated early warnings.
“We have a serious challenge with cooperation from states. Most times, we are disregarded. Our warnings are not taken seriously,” he said.
His comments come after heavy rainfall last week triggered widespread flooding in several parts of Nigeria, with Lagos among the worst-hit states.
The floods submerged roads, homes and critical infrastructure, disrupted transportation, displaced residents and caused power outages in some communities after floodwaters inundated an electricity transmission substation.
NiHSA has urged governments at all levels and residents in flood-prone communities to take precautionary measures to minimise the impact of the expected heavy rainfall and flooding in the coming weeks.
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