• More than 80 people die as their boat capsizes in southeastern state of Anambra.
• Nigeria’s flood crisis has been disastrous this year, killing at least 300 people.
• Governor of Kogi state calls flooding a “humanitarian tragedy,” displaces up to 600,000.

Seventy-six people were killed when their boat capsized while attempting to flee dangerously high floodwaters that have inundated swaths of southern Nigeria.

On Friday, a boat carrying more than 80 people capsized in the southeastern state of Anambra as people desperately tried to flee floodwaters as high as rooftops.

According to the country’s National Emergency Management Agency, recent flooding in the area displaced up to 600,000 people (NEMA).

According to NEMA, Nigeria’s flood crisis has been disastrous this year, killing at least 300 people and affecting over 500,000 people. NEMA warned of more catastrophic flooding for states located along the courses of the rivers Niger and Benue, explaining that three of Nigeria’s overfilled reservoirs were expected to overflow.

The Anambra tragedy comes on the heels of the devastating aftermath of a flood that swept through swaths of neighbouring north-central Kogi state a week ago, submerging buildings under water levels not seen in a decade, according to Kogi Red Cross Society officials.

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At least six people, including a toddler, were reported dead in Kogi’s worst-hit Ibaji district, which state Governor Yahaya Bello described as “100% underwater.”

In a speech on October 1, Bello called the flooding a “humanitarian tragedy.”

Kogi is about 200 kilometres from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. Lokoja, the capital of Kogi, is located at the confluence of two of West Africa’s largest rivers, the Niger and the Benue.

“As the two major rivers met in Lokoja, they overwhelmed the banks of the Lower Niger river, resulting in the inundation,” environmentalist Simi Adeodun told.

“Not only Lokoja is currently inundated, but most of the riparian communities along the banks of the Benue River in Nasarawa State… “The River Niger, which runs through the border between Kwara and Niger states, is also submerged,” he said.

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