Now that the worst is over, as they would assume, many residents spread their beds and furniture like sacrifices to the sun. Some who could not locate their properties looked in despair, fearing their new realities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mohammed Babagana sat in front of his closed shop, where he used to sell spare parts for tricycles and motorcycles for over 20 years. He watches his 12-year-old son, Hussein, fish in the waters on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt pains me to think about the losses incurred,\u201d he said, wearing a forlorn look while recounting his losses. \u201cHonestly, we haven’t experienced floods of such intensity in the past. Suppose authorities warned me about an impending flood. I wouldn\u2019t leave anything behind; I’d take as much as possible,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His friend, Abdullahi Dahiru, 50, sells kitchen utensils on another street nearby but hasn\u2019t been able to access his shop yet. He came to visit Mohammed when DUBAWA encountered him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf I were informed that a flood of such significant magnitude was coming, I would pack the essential items that would benefit me and my family. I would then move to a safer location where flooding wouldn\u2019t be an issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sept. 6, 2024, Bukar Tijani \u2013the Borno state government’s secretary\u2013 had the chance to notify residents ahead when he led a delegation of top-ranking government officials to assess the impact of water overflow at Alau Dam. Instead, he reassured residents<\/a> (archived<\/a>) in Maiduguri that the city was not threatened. He revealed that the state government is partnering with the Chad Basin Development Authority to prevent such a disaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere have been a lot of worries and speculations that the whole Dam has broken down, but the dam has not. We have discussed and seen what to do, but the rumour of Maiduguri being flooded is not there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Credible media outlets published the report here<\/a>, here,<\/a> and here<\/a>. It also generated massive reactions on Facebook here<\/a> (archived<\/a>), here<\/a> (archived<\/a>), here<\/a> (archived<\/a>), and here<\/a> (archived<\/a>). DUBAWA could not independently confirm how many approximately 1.1 million<\/a> residents got the message, but it was widely reported by media platforms and circulated on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Days after allaying his friends\u2019 fears since he heard the statement on NTA Maiduguri radio, Muktar Yusuf now squats with them after becoming a homeless victim of the flood. \u201cNothing in my house is usable at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe loss I experienced was more hurtful because I was even the main person who told my friends that the government had gone there and made the statement. It would have been another thing if they warned us and we didn\u2019t move,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Patience Malik, a salesperson selling building materials, said her boss\u2019 friend showed him Mr Tijani\u2019s video, which calmed him from packing his properties. \u201cWe felt more at ease when we saw the post on Facebook because we saw that he went there and there was no cause for alarm. We felt no need to worry,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Five days later, the flood damaged goods worth millions at her boss\u2019 two shops. \u201c[The flood] affected many people, including my boss\u2019 businesses. Some people have lost their houses, businesses and properties in millions. Customers are not even available to buy our goods that are not yet damaged,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Muhammad Alkali, the media and publicity coordinator at the Green Plantation and Environmental Action Initiative (GPEAI) in Maiduguri, said many organisations connected the dam’s eventual collapse and the subsequent disaster to the frequent rainfall that increased the reservoir’s storage beyond the capacity designed over 40 years ago, indicating the contribution of climate change in the flood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cThe flood is a climate change-related disaster because the Alau dam cannot accommodate the water it was designed to hold in the last four decades. Many people still don\u2019t believe in the effects of climate change, and misinformation is a great challenge that is causing loss of lives and properties in climate change-related disasters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Residents in the Alau community, where the dam is situated, accused the state government of neglecting their cries for help while the dam could still be salvaged. Mohammed Musa, a 42-year-old tricycle driver who has lived at the settlement near the dam at Laujeri, Jere LGA, for more than 15 years, revealed that the engineers sand-filled certain parts of the waterside some years ago to facilitate the dam\u2019s rehabilitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe rely on [the dam] for drinking water and irrigation to grow crops like tomatoes, okra and onions,\u201d he said. \u201cEngineers came to construct a slope to help manage the water flow, reducing its speed so it wouldn\u2019t go above the bridge when they wanted to start repairing the dam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe genesis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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