LAGOS, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The flooding in many parts of Nigeria can lead to poor crops production and harvest in 2017, a top official with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) said Saturday.
More states were susceptible to flood as rainy season continued, Sani Mashi, the agency's Director-General, told reporters in Abuja, the nation's capital.
He said only few crops could tolerate excess amount of water, adding that some crops could be completely lost, if they were submerged for long period since they survived on sunshine.
The agency also made prediction that there would be dry spell toward the end of the growing season when there will be no rainfall, he added.
Mashi said the agency had warned that the recent trend in climate would result in tremendous alteration in the rainfall pattern in the country.
The director said while rainfall was expected to be spread over a long period of time, because it started late, high amount were received early part in the season.
According to him, the implication is that if higher amount of rain is received, it means more rains is received more than what the ground can contain.
Flooding is a common environmental problem in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
Six weeks ago, the agency had issued a flood alert in Lagos, other coastal cities and some states across the West African country.
Lagos, the nation's economic hub, has been battling with flooding since last week as a result of torrential rainfall.
Last Saturday, motorists spent up to six hours to escape the water-logged roads and expressway in the highbrow Victoria Island axis of the city.
The heavy floods took over some homes and offices, forcing some residents and workers to unceremoniously vacate their premises.
Local police had temporarily closed some of the roads to human and vehicular movement, due to the threat of flood.
In 2012, more than 363 people were killed and over 2.1 million others were displaced by floods across Nigeria.
A total of 30 out of the country's 36 states experienced heavy flooding and an estimated 7 million people were, in total, affected that year, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
The 2012 floods were termed as the worst in the country in more than 40 years.
