MOKWA, Nigeria (AP) – On May 29, Malam Hassan Umar was deep in muddy water, barefoot, looking to the remains of an Arabic school, turning into timber shattered and crushed by violent floods.
The Islamic teacher will clutch only the thread-like clothing he has escaped, and begin screaming out the names of the students he has housed, and may never be seen again.
Some students tried to escape with him from behind the house. However, the attempt quickly became dangerous.
Combined with the lack of a proper drainage system, the close-packed layout of the neighborhood quickly rose, causing floods to surge in the home’s maze with violent forces, leaving no clear path to safety.
In Chaos he could see helplessly as the water overwhelms some children and cleans them.
The community of mourning
Nearly 380km (236 miles) west of Nigerian capital Abuja, the major trade and transport hubs where farmers in the north and traders meet southern traders, became a scene of mass mourning after a rainfall early last Thursday Unleashed a catastrophic flood.
Officially, there are over 200 fatalities from sudden, severe floods that were built rapidly within five hours. Locals say the actual numbers are much higher and more than 1,000 people are still missing.
Most were armagrilli. The poor boys were sent far from their families to study the Quran under the care of Islamic teachers.
“I lost my brother while he tried to save the kids.”
Haruna Yusuf lost 14 relatives to the flood, except for the 12 Almajiri children he helped his father teach. Holding the rosary he prayed for them.
Among his late relatives was his brother Islamilla. Seeing the others owned, he decided to go back.
“He never put it out again,” Yusuf said of his brother. “He was consumed with water while trying to save others.”
“In our home and school, we are still looking for a family of 14, including 12 Almajiri students and my siblings, my uncle, his pregnant wife and their three children,” he said.
Children are still risking their lives to learn
In the Lava community near Mokwa, access to two schools is being blocked due to the collapse of important bridges caused by flooding.
Students at mule nursery and primary schools such as Salamatu Sarihu and Husaina Aliyu have to wait for the canoe to cross the flooded river.
In many cases, boats don’t come. When they do so, the children get wet, late, and arrive at a frightened school.
The 11-year-old Husaina has significantly improved her safety.
“There’s no life jacket,” she said. “One day we wait a long time for a paddler who might not come. I’m scared, but I’m still trying to go.”
Teacher Fatiman Alhassan said attendees had plummeted since the bridge collapsed. “The kids arrived at 9am and are already late for lessons. Many people are completely missing out on class,” she said.
The man lost six family members
Abdulmueen Abdullahi lost six family members, including his mother, his older brother and four other siblings.
He was not at home “a terrible early Thursday” when his surviving sister called him. “I came across all my fortunes and my six family members were washed away,” Abdullahi said, shaking the reporter’s hand in the middle of the interview.
Isaac Koni quietly stared at the space where his photography lab once stood. Three days before the flood, his lab had new photo materials and equipment redesigned and in stock before the celebration of Eid al-Adha. Koni’s 12 staff members were all surviving, but his 30 million naira ($19,000) investment was lost.
The government has turned local schools into camps for evacuees, but the shelters are virtually empty. Preparations were late and most of the survivors either began to rob shelter to the bodies of the already destroyed homes or were moving along with relatives.
The government began distributing relief materials, including food, on Monday.
Teresa Panma, UNICEF water, sanitation and hygiene expert in Nigeria, said the agency is on the ground to help survivors access basic health care and prevent the outbreak of disease.
Mokwa is the latest in a series of Nigerian communities that have been devastated by seasonal floods, exacerbated annually by climate change, lack of drainage and lack of disaster preparedness.
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Adebayo reported from Abuja, Nigeria.
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