Floods in Nigeria: Football fans struggle to stay afloat while watching the Premier League

Football fans in Nigeria have been seen in a video treating themselves to some sort of entertainment despite the massive floods that have ravaged over half of the country’s 36 states.

The recent flooding in the country - the worst in more than a decade - has according to Nigerian authorities led to the death of over 500 persons with millions, displaced from their homes.

In a video now circulating on social media, some football fans in Nigeria's southern state of Bayelsa are seen, trying to cope with the rising floods by keeping in touch with their favourite teams.

About 15-25 people are seen, sitting on wooden benches in a bid to stay afloat the knee-length flooding inside a sports viewing centre, watching what seems to be Arsenal's 1-0 Premier League victory over Leeds United. 

"This is how we have been surviving the flood in Bayelsa," Yeri Dekumo, the Bayelsa State governor's special assistant on new media wrote on Twitter.

Authorities have blamed the natural disaster on the release of excess water from the Lagdo Dam in neighbouring Cameroon and on unusual rainfalls.

And the flooding have seen more than 1.3 million people displaced in many states, Bayelsa being one of those 33 affected states. 

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are yet to make any statements regarding whether the flooding has already had an impact on major stadiums in the country or whether it will likely have an impact on the start of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), to which Bayelsa United and three other clubs were promoted.

Officials have warned that the flooding, caused by unusually heavy rains and the release of water from the dam in Cameroon, could continue into November.