Nigeria floods death toll tops 600 as authorities race to help hundreds of thousands of evacuees

Flooding in Nigeria is now thought to have killed 603 people this year, as local authorities race to get relief items to hundreds of thousands being evacuated from their submerged homes.

More than 1.3 million people have been displaced by the disaster, which has affected residents across 33 of Nigeria's 36 states, the nation's humanitarian affairs ministry said on Sunday.

At least 340,000 hectares of land have also been affected, worsening fears of food supply disruptions.

Elsewhere, armed conflict already has threatened production in the northwest and central regions of Nigeria, which produce much of what the country eats.

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has directed “all concerned to work for the restoration of normalcy”, according to a statement issued by the presidential office.

Last week, he approved 12,000 metric tons of grains for the flood victims.

Nigeria experiences annual flooding especially in coastal areas, but this year’s floods are the worst in more than a decade.

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Authorities have blamed the disaster on the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam, in neighboring Cameroon, and unusual rainfalls.

The flooding has worsened the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, where armed violence, especially in the troubled northern region, has already displaced more than three million people, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

Sadiya Umar Farouq, Nigeria’s minister of humanitarian affairs, has warned that five states are still at risk of experiencing floods until the end of November.

“We are calling on the respective state governments, local government councils and communities to prepare for more flooding by evacuating people living on flood plains to high grounds," Mr Farouq said.