The death toll from severe flooding in Niger State has exceeded 100, with emergency services warning the figure could rise further as search efforts continue.

Torrential rainfall on Wednesday night triggered flash floods that swept through Mokwa and surrounding areas, destroying homes and displacing hundreds.

“We have so far recovered 115 bodies, and more may still be found as the floodwaters carried victims into the River Niger from distant locations,” said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, spokesperson for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), in a statement to AFP.

“Bodies are still being recovered downstream, and the toll keeps rising,” he added, noting that many individuals remain unaccounted for. In one instance, a family of twelve had only four survivors as of Friday.

Husseini said several victims were found in the rubble of collapsed buildings, and rescue teams would require excavators to retrieve bodies trapped beneath the debris.

Earlier, Hussaini Isah, the official coordinating the search and rescue operation, had placed the provisional death toll at 88.

An AFP reporter observed emergency responders wading through floodwaters and searching collapsed structures, while distraught residents sifted through the ruins of their homes. Some children were seen playing in the contaminated floodwaters, raising concerns about outbreaks of waterborne diseases. At least two bodies were spotted lying on the ground, covered in printed fabric and banana leaves.

A woman in a maroon headscarf sat weeping quietly nearby, tears streaming down her face.

Mohammed Tanko, a 29-year-old civil servant, pointed to the remnants of his childhood home and said, “We lost at least 15 people from this house. The property is gone. We lost everything.”

Another resident, Danjuma Shaba, a 35-year-old fisherman, said he was sleeping rough in a car park. “I don’t have a house to sleep in. My home has collapsed,” he lamented.

Nigeria’s six-month rainy season is just beginning. Flooding – often triggered by intense rainfall, poor drainage systems, and unchecked urban development – claims hundreds of lives annually across the country.

Experts warn that climate change is worsening extreme weather conditions. In Nigeria, floods are exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure, blocked drains, and the construction of buildings on waterways.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency had issued warnings of potential flash floods in 15 of the country’s 36 states, including Niger, between Wednesday and Friday.

In 2024, floods killed over 1,200 people and displaced 1.2 million across 31 states—one of the deadliest flooding incidents in Nigeria’s recent history, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.