The death toll from devastating floods in Niger state has risen sharply to 117 people, with several others still missing after torrential rains destroyed thousands of homes, emergency officials announced Friday.

The floods struck on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, submerging more than 3,000 houses in the Tiffin Maza and Anguwan Hausawa communities in Mokwa Local Government Area. Ibrahim Hussaini, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, reported the dramatic increase from Thursday's count of 21 deaths as search and rescue operations intensified.

"A number of people are still in the water," Hussaini said, highlighting the ongoing danger facing residents in the affected areas.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed the updated death toll of 117 after conducting assessments and search operations. Approximately 5,000 residents have been displaced by the disaster, according to NEMA officials.

Abdullahi Arah, director-general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, attributed the flooding to several hours of heavy rainfall that overwhelmed the communities. Despite the devastation, rescue teams managed to save three people—a woman and her two children—through coordinated efforts involving state agency operatives, local government authorities, local divers, and volunteers.

Nigeria regularly experiences severe flooding during its rainy season, which typically begins in April. The country has faced increasingly frequent flood disasters in recent years, with climate patterns contributing to more intense rainfall events.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) had projected that the 2025 rainy season would span between 250 and 290 days in some states, with total annual rainfall expected to range from 405mm in the far north to 3,010mm in coastal regions.

Recent flooding incidents across Nigeria underscore the country's vulnerability to such disasters. In 2024, over 4,000 people were displaced and 30 killed due to flooding in Maiduguri, Borno state capital, caused by the collapse of the Alau Dam. The previous year, 2022 marked Nigeria's worst flooding in over a decade, killing more than 600 people, displacing around 1.4 million, and destroying 440,000 hectares of farmland. That same year also saw flooding in 16 states that killed 201 people and displaced 172,000 residents.