Travel News

At least 150 people killed, thousands displaced and buildings destroyed after heavy rains in north of country

Significant flooding affected Nigeria last week, with more than 150 deaths reported so far. Heavy rain struck the north of the country on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday, leading to flooding along the Niger River, displacing thousands and destroying hundreds of homes. The district head said it was the region’s worst flood in 60 years.

Heavy rain is not unusual at this time of year in Nigeria. The country has a tropical climate and is influenced by the west African monsoon, with the wet season running from April until October. This type of seasonality is linked to land-sea temperature differences, alongside the shifting intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a band of low pressure roughly around the equator that shifts north and south with the angle of the sun.

From March to September, the sun favours the northern hemisphere, meaning there is greater incoming solar radiation here during this time. As land heats up faster than water, this creates surface low pressure over west Africa as air ascends over the region, which then allows moister air to move in from the Atlantic to later fall out as rain.

Additionally, the ITCZ moves northwards during the northern hemisphere summer, meaning this region of low pressure is now situated over north Africa, allowing for more precipitation there. In contrast, during the northern hemisphere winter, the ITCZ shifts southwards, leading to drier conditions in west Africa under higher pressure.

This week, Niger and Nigeria will continue to experience rainfall but also below-average temperatures. These will fall about 10C below normal early this week, with daytime maximums in the mid to high 20s compared with a climate average of mid- to high 30s Celsius.

Northern Africa also had some extreme weather, with a severe summer storm hitting Alexandria in Egypt on Saturday. The city was battered by heavy rain, strong winds and hail, which flooded the streets and caused power outages.

BY James Hockaday

Volcanic activity measured in Sicily last night has picked up momentum, sending holidaymakers running for their lives.

Mount Etna in Sicily erupted on Monday morning, sending people running for their lives as a huge cloud of ash rose overhead.

Footage shared on social media shows people fleeing to safety after Europe's highest active volcano started erupting.

In a statement, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said that volcanic activity flagged in a previous statement issued at 4.14am local time has "carried on with Strombolian explosions of growing intensity that, at the moment, are of strong intensity and nearly continuous".

"Over the past few hours, the falling of a little thin ash has been flagged in the Piano Vetore area," the institute added.

It said its forecast model expected the erupting ash cloud to scatter in a south-west direction. The institute warned that the "values of the magnitude of the tremor are currently elevated with a tendency to increase further".

Thermal imaging of Mount Etna, shared by the institute this morning, shows "hot pyroclastic material" – meaning a fast-moving current of rock fragments, gas, and ash – flowing down the volcano.

In a statement shared at 11.55am local time, the INGV said the volcanic flow did "not appear to have crossed the edge" of the Valley of the Lion, surrounding the volcano.

The sunny spring is set to give way to a warm summer in the coming months, but that brings increased risk of heatwaves and drought.

Connor Parker

The UK is twice as likely as usual to have a hot summer this year, the Met Office has forecast, as the driest spring in decades prompted warnings of heatwaves and droughts.

The Met Office's three-month outlook predicts that the chance of a hot summer is higher than normal, bringing an increased risk of heatwaves and heat-related impacts.

The outlook shows it is 2.3 times more likely than normal that the UK will be hot over meteorological summer, which runs from 1 June to 31 August.

The UK has enjoyed the sunniest spring on record, with some 630 hours of sunshine clocked up across the country between 1 March and 27 May, in what has also been the driest spring for more than a century.

Temperatures soared to 8C above the average for the time of year on Saturday 31 May – the last day of meteorological spring – ahead of a potentially hot summer season.

However the sunny weather has come at a cost, with reservoirs across the country at lower levels than usual.

The north of England has been hit the hardest, with a drought declared on 21 May in the North West.

How hot is a 'heatwave'?

Different groups have different definitions of a heatwave, but in the UK, most follow the Met Office's interpretation.

The Met Office defines a heatwave as “an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions of the area at that time of year, which may be accompanied by high humidity”.

In the UK, the Met Office declares a heatwave when the daily temperature of a certain location meets or exceeds one of four temperature thresholds for a minimum of three days.

The lowest, covering Wales and Scotland, is 25C, and the highest, covering London, is 28C.

The longest official heatwave in the UK was in 1976, when a heatwave was declared during 15 consecutive days of hot weather.

The last official heatwave in the UK was in the summer of 2022 when there were three heatwaves declared in July and August.

Why is this summer going to be hotter than normal?

In a post alongside their three-month forecast, the Met Office said: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.

“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.

“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”

The summers of 2018 and 2021-2023 were also predicted to be hot, with data showing it has been a decade since the last time a summer was predicted to be cool, in 2015.

The latest outlook also shows the levels of rainfall and wind speed for the next three months will likely be near average.

by Shivansh Tiwary

NEW DELHI, June 2 (Reuters) – Ethiopian Airlines is looking to order at least 20 regional or small narrowbody jets as it moves to expand its domestic fleet and replace some ageing aircraft, the airline’s chief executive told Reuters on Monday.

“We are evaluating three aircraft models, the E-2 from Embraer, the A220 from Airbus, and the 737 MAX 7 from Boeing,” CEO Mesfin Tasew Bekele said in an interview.

The final order quantity will depend on the type chosen, he added. Boeing’s 737 MAX 7, which has a larger seating capacity and sits at the bottom of a larger category than the Airbus A220 and Embraer E-2, is yet to be certified.

Africa’s largest carrier is experiencing strong travel demand but has been constrained by jet delivery delays and the grounding of some aircraft due to engine shortages stemming from supply chain disruptions.

“We are receiving airplanes from both Boeing and Airbus, but deliveries have been delayed, some by three months, some six months, some more,” Bekele said on the sidelines of an annual IATA meeting of global airline leaders.

The company is also in talks with lessors to bring onboard some jets to ease capacity constraints.

The airline is among several facing grounded aircraft due to bottlenecks in engine maintenance plants. Ethiopian has three Boeing 787 widebody jets grounded due to a shortage of Rolls-Royce engines, with five turboprop aircraft grounded due to a shortage of RTX’s Pratt & Whitney engines.

“Normally engines were supposed to be repaired and returned in three months typically, but now it takes six months or even more to get them repaired and returned,” Bekele said.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in New Delhi. Editing by Jamie Freed and Mark Potter)

ABUJA, June 3 (Reuters) - Nigeria's defence chief on Tuesday called for the country's borders with its four neighbours to be completely fenced to curb the entrance of armed groups amid escalating insecurity.
Nigeria's military has been strained by widespread security issues, particularly a 16-year insurgency in the northeast led by Islamist militant group Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province. Security forces and civilians have been attacked and killed and tens of thousands of people have been displaced.

By David Milliken and Suban Abdulla

Summary

• BoE's Bailey says greater uncertainty requires gradual approach
• Breeden says Trump tariffs not key for her May vote to cut rates
• Dhingra says supply chain points to medium-term inflation fall
• Bailey says Mann right to consider QT in view of changed markets

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday he was sticking with a "gradual and careful" approach to cutting interest rates as global trade policy turmoil increasingly clouds the outlook.
The BoE cut interest rates last month to 4.25% in a three-way split vote. It cited "heightened unpredictability" with markets buffeted by U.S. President Donald Trump's rapidly shifting trade policy.

"I think the path (for interest rates) remains downwards, but how far and how quickly is now shrouded in a lot more uncertainty," Bailey told parliament's Treasury Committee.

CAIRO, June 1 (Reuters) - Egypt unveiled plans on Sunday to build a desert city that will see about 7% of Egypt's annual Nile River quota rerouted from fertile delta land to pass by upscale glass-fronted housing units and eventually a large agricultural project.
Egypt, facing mounting water shortages, power constraints, and a deepening economic crisis, wants the development to help increase the value of state assets and boost land prices through "non-traditional, innovative ideas," Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a statement announcing the project.

ByAbdullateef Aliyu, Lagos

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday reported that $1.3 billion in airline funds are blocked from repatriation by governments as of end of April 2025.

According to IATA, this is a significant amount, although it is an improvement of 25% compared with the $1.7 billion reported for October 2024.

The association stated that 10 countries account for 80% of the total blocked funds, amounting to $1.03 billion.

However, Nigeria is not on the list again having cleared over $700m airlines’ blocked funds as of last year, thereby exiting the debtors’ list.

At its peak in June 2023, Nigeria’s blocked funds amounted to $850 million, significantly affecting airline operations and finances in the country. 

However, as of April 2024, 98% of these funds have been cleared as IATA confirmed, saying the remaining $19 million was due to the Central Bank’s ongoing verification of outstanding forward claims filed by the commercial banks.  

In a report yesterday, the association representing 80 per cent of global airlines urged governments to remove all barriers preventing airlines from the timely repatriation of their revenues from ticket sales and other activities in accordance with international agreements and treaty obligations.

“Ensuring the timely repatriation of revenues is vital for airlines to cover dollar-denominated expenses and maintain their operations. Delays and denials violate bilateral agreements and increase exchange rate risks. Reliable access to revenues is critical for any business—particularly airlines which operate on very thin margins. Economies and jobs rely on international connectivity. Governments must realize that it is a challenge for airlines to maintain connectivity when revenue repatriation is denied or delayed,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

Pakistan and Bangladesh, previously in the top five blocked funds countries, have made notable progress in clearing their backlog to $83 million and $92 million, respectively (from $311 million and $196 million in October 2024, respectively). 

Mozambique has climbed up to the top of blocked funds countries, withholding $205 million from airlines, compared with $127 million in October 2024. The Africa and Middle East (AME) region accounts for 85% of total blocked funds, at $1.1 billion as of end April 2025.

The most significant improvement was noted in Bolivia, fully clearing its backlog that stood at $42 million at end October 2024.

By Abdullateef Aliyu

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for April 2025 global passenger demand with African airlines recording a 13.6% year-on-year increase in demand.

Capacity was up 8.9% year-on-year. The load factor was 76.3% (+3.1 ppt compared to April 2024).

By Ahmed Kingimi

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, June 4 (Reuters) - At least 98 people are still missing in addition to 160 confirmed dead a week after floods ripped through a town in central Nigeria, the national emergency agency said on Wednesday, as hopes of finding survivors fade.
Heavy rainfall unleashed waters that destroyed homes and overwhelmed local drainage systems in Mokwa, about 270 km (168 miles) west of Abuja, in one of the deadliest floods to hit Africa's most populous country.

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Although search and rescue operations continue, damage to roads and bridges was hampering access, said the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), which has enlisted the help of Nigeria Red Cross, police and army.
"Teams are working to locate missing persons. There is heightened risk of disease outbreaks due to overcrowding and contaminated water sources," NEMA said in a statement.
Habiba Abdulahi, a 27-year-old resident, said four of her five children had been washed away by the floods, and that like other victims' relatives she was still hoping that the bodies would be found.

"Just like that, my children were gone. Even now, we haven't found them, but we are still hoping to recover their bodies," she told Reuters by phone.
The United Nations Children's Fund in Nigeria said it had deployed a team to provide essential healthcare services, including to pregnant women.
Nigeria frequently experiences floods during the rainy season, which typically begins in April and ends in October.

Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Aidan Lewis