Teacher in Nigeria loses dozens of relatives and pupils in devastating floods

MOKWA, Nigeria (AP) — On May 29, Mallam Hassan Umar stood waist-deep and barefoot in muddy water, his eyes on the remnants of his Arabic school, now reduced to sludge and shattered wood by devastating floods.

The Islamic teacher, clutching only the threadbare clothes he escaped with, started shouting the names of the pupils he housed and might never see again.

Some pupils tried to escape with him through the back of the house, which also doubled as the school. But that attempt quickly turned perilous.

The tightly packed layout of the neighborhood, combined with the absence of a proper drainage system, made the floodwater quickly rise and surge through the maze of homes with violent force, leaving no clear path to safety.

In the chaos, he could only watch helplessly as the water overwhelmed some of the children, sweeping them away.

A community in mourning

Mokwa, a key commerce and transportation crossroads where northern farmers and southern traders meet, is located about 380 kilometers (236 miles) west of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. Devastating floods caused by torrential rains early last Thursday has left the town in a state of universal grief.


Officially, more than 200 people have died as a result of the abrupt and severe flood that quickly grew over the course of five hours. Locals claim that over a thousand people are still missing, and that the true figure may be much higher.

Many were Almajiri, impoverished boys who were brought far from their homes to study the Quran under the guidance of Islamic tutors. They lived in crowded, unofficial schools and were frequently seen begging for food and alms on the streets of northern Nigerian cities.

Haruna Yusuf lost 14 relatives — apart from 12 Almajiri children he helped his father teach — to the flood. Clutching a rosary, he prayed for them.

Among his deceased relatives was his brother Islamila, who had managed to swim against the flood tide. Seeing others drown, he decided to go back.

“He did not make it out again,” Yusuf said of his brother. “He was consumed by the water, while trying to save others.”

“In our house and school, we are still searching for 12 Almajiri pupils and 14 family members, including my brother, my uncle, and his pregnant wife and their three children,” he said.

In the Rabba community, near Mokwa, the collapse of a key bridge due to the flood has cut off access to two schools.

Pupils of Rabba Nursery and Primary School, like Salamatu Salihu and Hussaina Aliyu, must wait for a canoe to ferry them across a flood-swollen river.

Often, the boats don’t come. When they do, the children arrive at school drenched, late, and frightened.

Hussaina, 11, raised a red flag over safety.

“No life jackets,” she said. “Some days, we wait long for paddlers who may not come. I’m scared, but I still try to go.”

Abdulmueen Abdullahi, lost six family members, including his mother, elder brother and four other siblings.

He was not at home those “terrible early hours of Thursday,” when his surviving sister called him. “I met all our properties and my six family members washed away,” Abdullahi said, breaking down mid-interview, gripping a reporter’s hand.

Isaac Koni stared quietly at the space where his photo lab once stood. Three days before the flood, his lab was renovated and filled with new photo material and equipment ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. Koni’s 12 staffers all survived, but his 30 million Naira ($19,000) investment was lost.

A nearby school has been converted by the government into a camp for displaced people, although the shelter is essentially deserted. It took a while to be ready, and the majority of the survivors had already begun living with family or in the wreckage of their homes.


The administration started distributing relief commodities, including food items, on Monday.

According to Theresa Pamma, UNICEF's Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene specialist in Nigeria, the organization is present to assist survivors in obtaining basic medical care and halting the spread of disease.

Adebayo reported from Nigeria's Abuja. Mokwa is the most recent in a string of settlements in Nigeria that have been ravaged by seasonal flooding, which is made worse every year by climate change, inadequate drainage, and a lack of preparedness for disasters.