Nigeria’s Boko Haram displaced struggle with hunger following devastating floods

The rainy season is finally coming to an end in northeastern Nigeria's Borno State. Water levels in the Ngadda River, which flows through the city of Maiduguri, have subsided but the consequences of the floods that swept through the city during September are still visible everywhere.

In the Biafra district, near the city's main market, Sali Umar shows us around his neighbourhood and his house, of which only the façade is still standing. The door of his house opens onto a scene of desolation. The ruins of his former home blend with the ruins of neighbouring houses.

"The water has washed everything away. I've lost everything," he says. "My whole family and I are living with neighbours."

In this Sahelian region, which is arid for much of the year, heavy rains are not unusual between July and September, but climate change has fuelled their intensity and frequency. Rising waters, caused by incessant rainfall, turned into a catastrophe on 9 September when the Alau dam broke, releasing floodwater that swept away everything in its path. The floods affected nearly 420,000 people in Borno State alone and left nearly 1,000 people dead, according to the National Emergency Management Authority.