A city in northeastern Nigeria is 40% underwater from a devastating flood, reports a Catholic bishop whose flock has already suffered from an insurgency of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.
Auxiliary Bishop John Bakeni of Maiduguri, Nigeria, has issued an appeal for help in the wake of devastating floods affecting his city.
In a video message sent to the pontifical agency Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Bakeni requests aid, explaining that “the city of Maiduguri has been engulfed by a devastating flood, and over 40% of the city is underwater.”
The video was taken outside the cathedral of St. Patrick, which is also largely underwater. It shows people walking through a courtyard, with the water up to people’s midsections.
Christians are a minority in the diocese. Maiduguri is a major city in northern Nigeria. Bishop Bakeni said that at least a million people are suffering from the effects of the flood.
“In the city, over a million people have been affected, and over 200,000 families have been displaced,” he said. “We are still carrying out our assessment, but three or four parishes of ours have been affected, and over 20,000 parishioners have been as well.”
Most of them now live in host communities.
The flood in Maiduguri is believed to be the result of damage to the Alau Dam, located a few miles from the city. ACN is providing food, medicine, sanitation, and shelter.
At the same time, heavy rain in the south of the diocese have also caused floods, which have affected, in particular, St. Pius X Parish in Shuwa, about 80 miles from Maiduguri, with parishioners there also needing assistance, Bishop Bakeni said.
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