As the rainy season sets in, the Yobe, Adamawa, and Borno governments have rolled out various emergency preparedness measures to tackle the impending flooding in their respective states.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency have earlier predicted floods, wind, storms and prolonged dry spells in some parts of the country.
The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (YOSEMA) Director, Search and Rescue Operations, Dr. Ibrahim Jalo, said the agency had deployed real-time river-monitoring digital platforms in riverine communities.
He said the agency had engaged critical stakeholders, including security agencies, ministries, persons with disabilities groups and humanitarian partners to strengthen disaster response.
Jalo added that Local Government Areas Early Warning and Action Committees had also been activated, and that personnel had been trained to improve grassroots emergency response.
He said the state government directed the agency to set aside relief materials and food items, targeting 60,000 households, adding that the relief materials are being positioned in Damaturu, Potiskum and Geidam to ensure quick access during emergencies.
Jalo disclosed that 7,400 sandbags had also been earmarked for establishing embankments in vulnerable communities, pointing out the agency had mapped out community leaders and emergency contacts to improve communication and reduce response time during disasters.
The director revealed that the agency had planned to evacuate residents of 12 flood-prone areas to higher ground.
According to him, the agency has already identified safe locations for the evacuees in Gujba, Damaturu, Bursari, Geidam, Yunusari, Fika, Potiskum, Jakusko, Bade, Gulani, Karasuwa and Machina.
Jalo appealed to residents to heed early warning information and cooperate with emergency officials during possible evacuations.
Similarly, the Adamawa government, said it will soon commence demolition of houses built on waterways as part of efforts to mitigate floods.
Mrs Syngana Dahdah, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, said residents whose houses were earlier marked for demolition and compensation must vacate immediately.
She said the ministry had forwarded a memo to Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri on desilting drains in Yola and reconstruction of drainages along the Shagari and Yolde Pate axis.
Dahdah stated that the areas experienced severe flooding in 2025 due to blocked drains and poor water flow and arrangements were concluded by the ministry to also demolish embankments built on some farms for irrigation purposes.
The permanent secretary explained that such embankments were built on waterways, thereby triggering floods in some parts of the state.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has concluded an awareness campaign on disaster preparedness, early warning systems and risk reduction measures in Yola-North and Yola-South local government areas.
Mr Suleiman Yakubu, NEMA Zonal Director, said the exercise was part of the ongoing National Preparedness and Response Campaign (NPRC) 2026.
He said the sensitisation, targeting flooding and related hazards common during the rainy season, benefited Makama, Mbamba, Anguwan Tabo, Shagari, Limawa and Mbonrinji communities.
In Borno State, the Director-General of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Ali Abdullahi has disclosed that hundreds of residents have been evacuated from flood-prone communities of Dikwa to safer shelters in order to reduce their exposure to recurring seasonal flooding.
He said the intervention formed part of a broader disaster risk reduction strategy aimed at protecting lives and property, pointing out the agency will continue to provide food and other relief materials to residents of the Kala Balge community, which battled with annual floods due to the release of water from Laddo Dam in Cameroon.
Abdullahi said massive drainage clearance was conducted in Maiduguri by the agency to prevent blockage of waterwaysd major flood-prone areas of Ajilari Cross, Kopa and Bulumkutu-Dala had received targeted interventions, including drainage desilting and construction of improved drainage infrastructure.
“Ajilari Cross, Kopa and Bulumkutu-Dala remain some of the most vulnerable areas during the rainy season.
“We are currently expanding drainage systems and clearing blocked waterways to reduce the impact of flooding,” he said.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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