Climate change—and the flooding it exacerbates—respects no borders. Nigeria’s experience mirrors that of the United States, where the Guadalupe River in Texas overflowed catastrophically on July 4, 2025. As in Maiduguri, heavy rainfall led to rapid river rise. At least 135 people were confirmed dead, with Kerr County suffering 117 fatalities alone. More than 12,100 structures were damaged across communities such as Kerrville and Hunt
WITHIN the past year, two devastating floods—at Alau Dam in Maiduguri and the Guadalupe River in Texas—have shown how water, life’s greatest resource, can also be its deadliest force. Homes were swept away, towns ravaged, and children lost.
Now, September’s rains are here again. Nigeria has issued flood alerts for 11 states between September 14 and 18, 2025, warning of torrential rains and rising rivers. High-risk areas stretch from Benue to Zamfara, including Makurdi, Rijau, Karaye, Jibia, Makira, and Gusau.
The National Flood Early Warning Centre has raised alarms over swelling levels in the Gongola, Benue, and Niger rivers. Residents on floodplains have been urged to evacuate—but many may have nowhere to go. Without safe shelters and clear evacuation plans, official warnings can only do so much.
Nigeria’s rainy season is already among the longest in Africa—up to 290 days in the South. But climate change is making storms more violent and floods less predictable. Lagos, with its 15–20 million residents, is scrambling to clear blocked drains as a pre-emptive strike.
The lesson from Alau Dam and Guadalupe River is simple: early warning must be matched with early action. Preparing secure shelters, clearing drainage systems, and enforcing floodplain zoning are no longer optional—they’re survival measures.
If Nigeria doesn’t act decisively, September’s rains could turn into another season of preventable tragedy.
Building a Flood-Resilient Lagos: Lessons from Past Disasters
As part of its drive to build a flood-resilient Lagos and minimise the impact of flooding on lives and property, the state government has embarked on an ambitious, large-scale drainage project to address perennial flooding across key parts of the metropolis.
This project includes expanding water channels, upgrading existing drainage systems, and ensuring the free flow of stormwater during heavy rains. Temporary pumping stations have been established in areas such as Adeniji Adele Underbridge to remove excess water and provide immediate relief to affected communities. Resilient drainage infrastructure is also being upgraded in areas like Park View Estate and Lagos Island.
The government is emphasising proper waste disposal and warning residents against dumping refuse in gutters. Early-warning systems have been introduced to alert residents of potential flooding so they can take precautions, and community awareness campaigns are underway. Authorities are engaging directly with residents and stakeholders to stress the importance of maintaining clear drains and preventing blockages.
Government is not alone.
Some like-minded Nigerians in Lagos have grouped themselves under the name. Environmental Angels. It is led by Patrick Oke, and it includes Tayo Gbajabiamila, Linda Uthman, Soni Irabor, and Gboyega Adelaja as well as yours truly. The mission to enlighten Lagosians in particular and Nigerians in general about how to keep our environment free of the sort of trash that could impede the free flow of drainage and exacerbate the climate-induced environmental challenges our country and indeed the world is grappling with.
All these measures are intended to prevent the unnecessary loss of lives and property during the rainy season and avert the kind of disasters seen elsewhere.
There is an African proverb: “Once a child is burned by fire, he or she runs from even a spark.” The horrific Alau Dam disaster remains fresh in the minds of Nigerians—officially 30 lives were lost, but locals estimate as many as 150 deaths. States like Lagos are therefore taking proactive steps to prevent similar tragedies. The same approach can be extended to other coastal regions of Nigeria where emergency procedures are being put in place to reduce risk.
Flood disasters are not new to Nigeria. One of the most infamous was the Ogunpa River flood in Ibadan, Oyo State. On August 31, 1980, heavy rainfall caused the Ogunpa River to overflow, killing more than 300 people and destroying property on a massive scale. That tragedy left a lasting imprint on Nigeria’s flood management strategies. In much the same way, the Alau Dam disaster of September 2024 has become a wake-up call for renewed vigilance.
Climate change—and the flooding it exacerbates—respects no borders. Nigeria’s experience mirrors that of the United States, where the Guadalupe River in Texas overflowed catastrophically on July 4, 2025. As in Maiduguri, heavy rainfall led to rapid river rise. At least 135 people were confirmed dead, with Kerr County suffering 117 fatalities alone. More than 12,100 structures were damaged across communities such as Kerrville and Hunt.
According to meteorologists, the flooding in Texas was triggered by a mesoscale convective vortex combined with tropical moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry—dumping four months’ worth of rain in just a few days.
Together, these disasters underscore the urgent need for proactive planning, resilient infrastructure, and community preparedness in the face of intensifying climate impacts.
Guadalupe River vs. Alau Dam Flooding: Lessons for Nigeria
The Guadalupe River flooding has been described as one of the deadliest freshwater disasters in the United States in 50 years, surpassing the death toll of Hurricane Helene in 2024. For a first-world country like the U.S., it was a major—and even embarrassing—event.
Readers may wonder: what distinguishes the Alau Dam flooding disaster in Maiduguri, Nigeria, from the Texas tragedy? Despite occurring thousands of miles apart and in different hemispheres, both disasters left similar death tolls and destruction in their wake.
Yet there are important differences.
The Alau Dam flooding was driven by a combination of heavy rainfall, poor maintenance, and dam mismanagement—failings often linked to a weak maintenance culture in Nigeria. In contrast, the Texas flooding was triggered by heavy rainfall, tropical moisture, and a rare weather phenomenon known as a mesoscale convective vortex—a freak weather event rather than infrastructural neglect.
The consequences reflected these differences. The Alau Dam’s collapse caused a sudden, catastrophic release of water, affecting over one million people, displacing hundreds of thousands, and destroying critical infrastructure. The Texas flooding caused at least 135 confirmed deaths, with widespread damage in communities such as Kerrville and Hunt, but it was marked by a more gradual rise in water levels.
The response efforts also diverged sharply. In Nigeria, relief operations were hampered by security challenges and allegations of corruption, leaving many survivors without adequate support. In Texas, response efforts were swift and coordinated, with multiple agencies, including FEMA, deploying resources for search and rescue.
Why emphasise these differences? They reveal the unique challenges and lessons embedded in each disaster. The Nigerian Meteorological Centre, for instance, appears to have learned from past failures. It recently issued early flood alerts covering 11 states in September. State governments such as Lagos and Delta also seem to be working to minimise loss of life and property, as reflected in media reports of drainage clearing and embankment construction. Hopefully, these proactive measures will also prevent the terrifying scenes of last year, when crocodiles, hippos, and other reptiles were flushed into riverine communities during floods.
The comparison between the Alau Dam disaster and the Guadalupe River basin flood underscores a simple truth: climate change is a global challenge. But given the U.S.’s experience and Nigeria’s vulnerabilities, Nigeria should adopt the best practices of advanced countries rather than reinvent the wheel.
The U.S., despite being the richest and most powerful country in the world, also contends with deserts—from Texas to Nevada—as Nigeria contends with the Sahel in Kano, Maiduguri, and Sokoto. Likewise, it has aquatic states like Florida that mirror Lagos, the Delta, and Rivers. Nigerian states sharing ecological similarities with U.S. states could adopt their development paradigms and seek mentorship to improve disaster preparedness.
This proposition may seem idealistic, but, as the saying goes, little drops of water make an ocean. China became an economic powerhouse partly because of its openness to external mentorship. When U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, he set in motion a new era of trade and infrastructure development, later consolidated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Barely 50 years later, China rose to become the world’s second-largest economy.
By learning from the U.S. and fostering such partnerships, Nigerian states could transform disaster preparedness and resilience into a broader pathway for development. Who knows—if our leaders take bold action, Nigeria could one day mirror China’s dramatic economic rise.
- Magnus Onyibe, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, democracy advocate, development strategist, and alumnus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, is a Commonwealth Institute scholar and a former commissioner in the Delta State government. He sent this piece from Lagos.