FULL LIST: FG identifies 31 states as high-risk flood areas
• Says months of April, May, June critical
Thirty-one states have been identified as high-risk flood areas in the country by the Federal Government of Nigeria as the impending flood experience warms the population across the country.
In these 31 states, not less than 148 local governments fall within the high-risk flood zone.
The country would be affected in the high flood-risk areas, Minister of Water Resources, Prof Joseph Utsev, alerted.
Utsev said this while presenting the general highlights of the 2024 Annual Flood Outlook prepared by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency in Abuja
The Minister advised that the annual flood outlook serves as a comprehensive guide to mitigate the impact of floods on communities across the country and tasked all Nigerians to pay attention to the scientific predictions.
The minister, in his presentation of the Annual Flood Outlook report, listed the high flood-risk areas, including Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe.
According to the Annual Flood Outlook, while floods are expected between April and November 2024, it also shows that 249 LGAs in 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) fall within the moderate flood risk areas.
He, however, did not list the areas under moderate-risk flooding.
The minister pointed out that 72 LGAs across the country fall within the high flood-risk areas in the months of April, May, and June, while part of the 135 LGAs in the months of July, August, and September and 44 LGAs in the months of October, November, and December fall within the high flood-risk areas.