Floods inundate southern Nigeria
Nigeria’s rainy season was particularly severe in 2022, with heavy rains causing deadly, devastating floods in several states. In October, floods in the southern part of the country submerged homes and farmland and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
This false-color image (right) shows flooding along the Benue and Niger rivers on October 11, 2022. For comparison, the second image (left) shows the same area on October 24, 2021 under more typical conditions.
Both images were acquired Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is Finland’s nuclear power plant satellite. The images use a combination of infrared and visible light to help distinguish between water (blue) and land (green).
At the top of the picture, floodwaters had inundated numerous communities on the banks of both rivers. Near their confluence, the flood water flooded Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State. Flooding continued southward, including a significantly widespread area extending into southern Kogi and northern Anambra state. The natural color images below show a detailed close-up of this area. He bought them Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9 June 12 and October 2, 2022.
Emergency management agencies reported that over 600,000 people have been displaced by floodwaters in Anambra. The flood has also been deadly. On October 7, the boat capsized, killing dozens of people trying to escape the rising waters.
Severe flooding has also affected other parts of Nigeria throughout the 2022 rainy season, which usually runs from April to October. There is a cholera epidemic in the northeast the reason water sources contaminated by flood water.
By News reportsNigeria’s floods this year were the worst on record since 2012.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/World Viewand Finland’s national Arctic Circle Partnership and Landsat data US Geological Survey. Story by Kathryn Hansen.