In Pictures: Nigeria’s unprecedented flood disaster

President Goodluck Jonathan described the flooding of several Nigerian states a national disaster.

He is dead right as some aerial views of affected states show.

The pictures presented here, taken by Ewelike Callistus Ikwunze, of the State House, capture the effects of the flood in Rivers, Anambra, Delta and Bayelsa states.The flood equally affected Kogi, Edo and Benue states, swallowing towns, destroying homes and farmlands. The Red Cross put the number of the dead at 148, although some observers said the figure could be an understatement of the casualties. Thousands of people lost their homes, an estimate put between 64,000 and a million, across all the states ravaged by the flood.

The value of homes destroyed is estimated in billions of naira. No wonder President Jonathan charged the Aliko Dangote committee to look for N100billion Naira, in addition to the $110 million the government has agreed to release to give relief to the victims of flood.