Heavy rains early on Thursday led to sudden and intense flooding in the Mokwa region on the banks of the river Niger. Roads and bridges were swept away as the water rose, leaving rooftops barely visible and residents fighting to survive.

Father James Omeh, the he parish priest of Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church in Gulu in Niger State in Nigeria, died on May 25 when his vehicle was swept away by floodwaters along the Lapai-Gulu Road near Duma village. A woman travelling with him was also killed.

Flash flooding in north-central Nigeria last week killed more than 200 people, the Niger state humanitarian commissioner said Tuesday, while hundreds more remain missing and are feared dead.