Trapped by the Flood, Maiduguri Community’s Endless Wait

Trapped by the Flood, Maiduguri Community’s Endless Wait for Relief.

For more than two weeks, the people of Kushari in Maiduguri have lived waist-deep in water. The floods have turned their homes into islands, their schools into ponds, and their businesses into wreckage. In the evenings, the call to prayer echoes over stagnant pools, while children wade barefoot through filthy water to fetch food from relief trucks. “We no longer sleep in beds,” says Aisha, a mother of four. “We spread mats on raised blocks and pray the water does not rise again at night.”

The Kushari flood is not just an accident of nature. It is a warning from the climate crisis. Borno State, already scarred by conflict, is now facing another silent battle one against shifting rain patterns, overflowing rivers, and collapsing infrastructure. Experts say rising temperatures are intensifying rainfall across West Africa, while deforestation and unplanned urban growth magnify the risk of flooding.

The human cost is staggering. Schools have been shut, places of worship submerged, and businesses destroyed. Local health workers warn of a looming cholera outbreak, as families fetch drinking water from the same pools where mosquitoes breed and refuse floats. “We are on the edge of a public health emergency,” says Dr. Usman, a physician residing in Borno State “Once cholera spreads in these waters, it will be devastating.”

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s New Weather Puzzle

Yet, beyond the human suffering, the Kushari flood reveals a deeper story of climate injustice. Nigeria contributes less than one percent to global carbon emissions, but communities like Kushari are paying the highest price. Wealthier nations drive the emissions, but it is the poor who drown, displaced without insurance or safety nets.

Community leaders are pleading with the government for urgent drainage systems before the rains intensify. But residents say they cannot wait for bureaucracy. “We need action now, not promises,” says Musa, a trader whose shop was swept away. “If nothing is done, next year will be worse.”

Still, resilience flows even where waters rise. Neighbours have pooled resources to build makeshift walkways with sandbags and planks, while youth groups patrol flooded streets at night to prevent looting of relief materials provided by the National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) “We are not giving up,” says Halima, a young student who studies under a lantern perched on a dry wooden bench. “If the flood wants to drown us, we will rise above it.”

In Kushari, the floodwaters may eventually recede. But unless urgent action is taken, the memory of this disaster will return with the rains, stronger and more unforgiving. The story of this community is not just local it is the global story of climate change: those least responsible bear its greatest weight.

While, Trapped by the Flood, Kushari Community reminds the world of a painful truth while the climate crisis is universal, its heaviest burdens are carried by those with the fewest means to endure them.