Lightning strike kills 11 in northern Nigeria

Eleven people were killed by lightning in two communities in northern Nigeria during torrential rains, Red Cross and local officials said Wednesday. Eight peasant farmers were killed and another 12 injured on Tuesday during a thunderstorm outside Balanga village in Gombe State, Nigerian Red Cross official Bala Ahmed told AFP. "The farmers were working on their farms when it started to rain and they sought shelter under a tree which was then struck by lightning," Ahmed said. In a separate incident in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, three people were struck by lightning during a downpour in a timber market, the head of the market, Abbati Muhammad, told AFP. Lightning "struck and three people who had come to buy firewood were caught in it and died on the spot", he said. Lightning strikes occur in Nigeria during the rainy season which has just begun. Last week, 24 people died in flooding in northern city of Kano following heavy rains. Nigeria experienced severe flooding last year, which left scores dead and affected around half a million people in two-thirds of its 36 states, according to the emergency agency, which has predicted unprecedented heavy rainfall and severe flooding this rainy season. Several other cities, including the nation's commercial capital Lagos, have experienced flooding in recent days as a result of heavy rains.