ABUJA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Floods caused by persistent rainfall destroyed at least 182 houses and displaced thousands of people in Nigeria's northeastern town of Dapchi, local officials said on Friday.
However, no life was lost in the disaster which has affected the town and many others in the northeastern state of Yobe, said Mohammed Goje, head of the State Emergency Management Agency.
Rainfall in the town on Thursday further wreaked havoc, with the floods affecting several other nearby communities including Hausari, Filatari, Kolori, Geidam, and Fika, said Goje.
Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, has also been affected by the floods, he told Xinhua.
In view of the situation, he said disaster management agencies had begun to support victims with relief materials, to ameliorate the sufferings.
Last week, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, which is responsible for issuing flood alerts here, had issued an alert over possible flooding due to the high intensity of rainfall across the country.
The hydrological body said the flooding incidents are due to high rainfall intensity of long duration, rainstorms, blockage of drainage systems and poor urban planning resulting from the erection of structures within the floodplains and waterways.
This year, Nigeria's 36 states and the federal capital territory, Abuja, would witness different levels of flooding, the hydrological body predicted.
