THE Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted heavy rainfall in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 24 states between Thursday, Sept. 28 and Friday, Sept. 29.
This was contained in the weekly heavy rainfall bulletin released by the Agency on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
The bulletin reads: “Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected within the forecast period (Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September 2023) over parts of Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, Enugu, Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa,” it read.
Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi, Kwara and Benue state are other states likely to be affected.
NiMet also predicted that there would be moderate to heavy rainfall in some other parts of the country and advised that residents avoid surface runoff waters due to possible strong undercurrents.
“The expected moderate to heavy rainfall is expected to cause some flash flooding over their areas of occurrence. Strong winds should accompany the rains, with the strongest winds expected over parts of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi State,” the bulletin read.
Heavy rainfall, which sometimes results in flooding, is a part of climate change concerns in Nigeria. Many states likely to experience the 48-hour rainfall, according to NiMet predictions, are flood-prone areas and were badly affected in 2022.
NiMet and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) predicted that at least 32 states would be affected by another flooding incident in 2023, likely more disastrous than in 2022.
Based on the predictions, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) introduced the 2023 Climate-Related Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Strategies, an early warning document with recommendations to minimise flooding in affected states.
However, The ICIR reported that many states, including Kogi, Benue, Jigawa, Niger, Rivers, and Bayelsa, are largely unprepared for the impending disaster.
