ABUJA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Severe floods caused by torrential rains have destroyed makeshift tents of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in parts of Nigeria's northeast region, leaving vulnerable families homeless, according to an international humanitarian agency on Friday.
As a result, large numbers of families who fled from conflict months ago are left homeless while others are forced to share overcrowded tents with neighbors or relatives, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which helps refugees and displaced persons in Nigeria, said in a statement made available to Xinhua in Abuja.
"Displaced people are suffering due to relentless rains and wind battering their homes the last few days," said the statement.
Heavy rainfalls in the past two weeks have wreaked havoc in parts of Nigeria, with the northeast region recording a huge loss of farmlands and houses to the natural disaster.
The NRC said over 6,800 people living in displacement camps in the city of Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno, have been impacted by floods in recent weeks.
In Dikwa, also a town in Borno, 500 people have been rendered homeless due to flooding and have set up homes in disused registration centers, it said.
On Aug. 7, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, which is responsible for issuing flood alerts, issued an alert over possible flooding due to the high intensity of rainfall across the country.
This year, Nigeria's 36 states and the federal capital territory, Abuja, would witness different levels of flooding, the hydrological body predicted.
