No fewer than 25 people have died and more than 51,000 houses were destroyed by heavy rainfall in Jigawa.
Gov. Muhammad Badaru, made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Dutse, NAN reports.
The governor, however, said he could not immediately give the exact number of casualties, adding: “You see to put the number of how many people died, you see this keeps increasing.
“The last count we had was between 20 and 25. Some are yet to verify whether it was as a result of flooding or other issues, whatever it is even if it is one life that is lost as a result of flooding is very serious,” he said.
Badaru, who condoled the families of those who lost their lives and sympathised with those whose property was destroyed in the current flash floods, assured them of his government support.
He noted that not many people died in the flash floods, adding that some died as a result of heavy rainfall which led to sudden collapse of their houses.
“What we have seen today is not the traditional flooding, we are still praying and hoping that Hadejia valley would still be intact until the end of the rainy season.
“A lot of embankment had been built up around the valley. In the last five months, we have been putting embankments in places where floods occurred.
“This year; we have experienced less flooding in those areas where we have provided mitigation.
“Most of the flooding this year were in places where we did envisage, but we will still analyse.
“This year; there is a heavy downpour, and if you analyse the number of houses that have gone down, I think more than 51,000 houses were destroyed, but we are still counting.
“The instant rain came up and poured, and because of the fact that the houses cannot keep off and they keep going down.
“And in some cases it is not about flooding but heavy rainfall that destroyed the mud houses that our people have, and that has been the trend this year,” Badaru said.
