At least 274 inmates run away from prison after the heavy flooding in Borno, Nigeria

Thousands are in desperate need of help in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria after the devastating flood. Photo: CNN

In the north-eastern part of Nigeria, Borno State, at least 274 inmates have escaped from a prison after the heavy flooding, the Correctional Service in the country said on Sunday.

“The flood brought down the walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium security custodial centre Maiduguri (MSCC) as well as the staff quarters in the city,” the service spokesman Abubakar Umar said in a statement.

Umar said that at least 281 inmates tried to run away while they were being moved to “a safe and secure facility” and seven of them were recaptured later.

He added that the service was aware of escapees’ identities, including their biometrics, and had made this information “available to the public.”  He said that the search for the inmates was ongoing.

According to the latest data available from the country’s disaster management agency NEMA and reported by CNN, weeks of flooding across Nigeria have led to 229 deaths and displaced more than 386,000 people.

Northern Nigeria has been the most affected by the floods, the data showed.

Last month, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) also warned of the rising water levels of the Niger River, one of the country’s largest rivers, urging states to be on alert.

Extreme rainfall events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity across almost all of Africa, including Nigeria, as human-caused climate change heats the planet projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show.

The report said further, on Wednesday, floodwaters that gushed from an overflowing dam in northern Nigeria engulfed a zoo and swept animals including crocodiles and snakes into communities.

尼日利亞博爾諾嚴重洪水後至少274名囚犯逃離監獄

尼日利亞懲教署週日表示，在尼日利亞東北部博爾諾州，至少有 274 名囚犯在嚴重洪水後越獄。

該部門發言人阿布巴卡爾·烏馬爾（Abubakar Umar）在一份聲明中表示：「洪水沖垮了懲教設施的圍牆，包括中等安全級別的邁杜古里拘留中心（MSCC）以及該市的員工宿舍。

奧馬爾說，至少有 281 名囚犯在被轉移到「安全可靠的設施」時試圖逃跑，其中 7 人後來被抓獲。

他補充說，該部門了解逃亡者的身份，包括他們的生物識別訊息，並將這些資訊「向公眾公開」。  他說，對囚犯的搜尋仍在進行中。

根據美國有線電視新聞網 (CNN) 報道，該國災害管理機構 NEMA 提供的最新數據顯示，尼日利亞全國持續數週的洪水已導致 229 人死亡，超過 386,000 人流離失所。

數據顯示，尼日利亞北部受洪水影響最嚴重。

上個月，尼日利亞水文服務局 (NIHSA) 也對該國最大河流之一尼日河的水位上漲發出警告，敦促各國保持警惕。

政府間氣候變遷專門委員會的預測顯示，隨著人為造成的氣候變遷使地球升溫，預計包括奈及利亞在內的幾乎所有非洲地區的極端降雨事件的頻率和強度都將增加。

該報告進一步稱，週三，尼日利亞北部一座氾濫的水壩湧出的洪水吞沒了一座動物園，並將包括鱷魚和蛇在內的動物捲入社區。