At least 20 people have been killed and thousands displaced by flooding in and around the city of Ibadan in south-western Nigeria.

The floods, resulting from heavy rains that began on Friday, caused a dam to overflow and washed away numerous buildings and bridges.

"It's a very serious situation," said Yushau Shuaib, an official in the city, 150km (90 miles) north of Lagos.

The damage was exacerbated by rubbish and debris clogging drains in the city.

Although flooding is common in Nigeria during the rainy season, this year's rains have been particularly heavy.

Hundreds of cars were also reported to have been submerged in the floods, along with scores of dwellings and extensive farmland.

Stall owners at the popular market in the Omi-Adio area of the city burst into tears after seeing the damage to their goods in a large warehouse, The Nation newspaper reported.

Camps have been set up to house the displaced.

Mr Shuaib said it was impossible to give an accurate figure of those displaced, but said that it was "definitely in the thousands".

Nigeria experienced severe flooding last year that hit some 500,000 people in many of its 36 states.

Across western and central Africa as a whole, more than 300 people were killed in the 2010 rainy season.

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