Local authorities said that the flood destroyed parts of Nigeria as rescue teams continued to recover bodies and search for missing persons, with more than 150 people killed and thousands displaced.
The flood hit Mokwa, a rural town in Niger state, after rain began on Wednesday night and continued until Thursday.
Ibrahim Audu Husseini, spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), said the death toll has risen to 151 after the body nearly 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Mokwa was recovered.
He said at least 3,018 people were displaced, while 265 houses were “completely destroyed” in the flood, adding that many victims were believed to have been swept through the Niger River, warning that tolls would still rise.
President Bola Tinubu expressed his condolences overnight and said that search and rescue operations are underway with the support of Nigerian security forces.
“Relief materials and temporary shelter assistance are being deployed,” he wrote in a social media post.
"We lost everything, family. We have no other place to go, the property has disappeared," local Mohammed Tanko told Al Jazeera. “We lost at least 15 from this house.”
Another survivor said: "I just escaped with my nighttime. Now, I can't even be sure of our house past."
More rainfall is frightening
Meteorologists warn that more rainfall is expected in the coming days, raising concerns about further flooding throughout the region.
During Nigeria's six-month rainy season, flooding is a conventional threat, but experts say the frequency and severity of these disasters are increasing due to climate change, poor unregulated buildings and drainage infrastructure.
"Flooding has become an annual event," Ugonna Nkwunonwo, a flood risk analyst at the University of Nigeria, told Al Jazeera.
He warned that despite long-term flood risk determination, “there is not much political power to implement this change”.
“This flood is the result of climate change, which affects the frequency and intensity of rainfall,” he said. “You expect rainfall over the past year may come in a month or two and people are not ready for this kind of rain.”
Similar disasters throughout Nigeria last year killed more than 1,200 people and displaced as many as 2 million people.
"This tragic incident promptly reminds you of the dangers associated with waterway construction and the critical importance of maintaining drainage channels and river roads," the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.