Nigeria floods: Guterres 'deeply saddened' by loss of life and rising need.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday he is 'deeply saddened', as the Government of Nigeria announced that some 200 people have died, and a further 1,310 injured, due to flooding across a dozen states. Overall, around two million have been affected.

Nigeria's two main rivers, the Niger and the Benue, burst their banks after heavy rains began in August, and the country has been experiencing large-scale floods ever since. A state of national disaster has been declared in the four most-affected states of Kogi, Niger, Anambra and Delta.

More than 561,000 people are internally displaced as a result and over 350,000 need immediate help - especially temporary shelter, food, safe drinking water, household items and medical care.

In addition, more than 150,000 hectares of farmland are entirely inundated which raises serious medium-term food security concerns, as to how farmers will be able to replant vital crops.

Close to 80,000 houses were damaged including 18,000 completely destroyed, and more than 320 roads and bridges are impassable. In the most...