The Federal Government, on Thursday, said no fewer than 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had either experienced various degrees of flooding or recorded casualties as rains intensified.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof Joseph Utsev, who dropped the red alert during a press briefing in Abuja, warned that 21 more states might suffer flooding.
He stated this against the background of the Wednesday downpour which grounded business and commercial activities in Lagos and Ogun states.
The resulting flooding brought down a two-storey building in the Mushin area of Lagos and overwhelmed residents while pupils could not attend schools in parts of the state.
Also, a pupil was swept away by the flooding in the Ketu area of Lagos.
Utsev explained that the Annual Flood Outlook by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency released in April had predicted that 148 local government areas in 31 states fell within the high flood risk areas.
The affected states include Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi.
Others are Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe.
Cholera may spread
The minister warned that cholera might spread further in Nigeria due to the flooding.
He further stated that river flooding would begin this month, and would hit Ondo, Kaduna, Anambra, Benue, Adamawa and 12 other states.
According to him, out of the 31 states where the Annual Flood Outlook predicted would experience flooding, the incident had occurred in 10.
Providing a national update on flooding, Utsev said, “It should be noted that some states have started experiencing varying levels of flooding and its associated disasters as early as April this year.