Floodwater from a broken riverbank overflows into a settlement in Lokoja, Nigeria, on Thursday of last week. More than 600 people are reported to have died in widespread flooding affecting two million people across 36 states in the country.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, in a Tweet on Monday, prayed for “relief and aid for the people of Nigeria as they face devastating, deadly floods and the spiralling impact of the climate crisis. For those who mourn, for those displaced, for those in fear and crisis, Lord have mercy.”

In his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis said that he had been thinking of “the violent rains that have fallen on their country in these days, causing flooding, numerous deaths, and tremendous damage. . . May these, our brothers and sisters, experience our solidarity and the support of the international community”