Three peopled were also killed in Douala, the economic capital of Nigeria's western neighbour, Cameroon, officials and witnesses said.

The incident in northern Nigeria occurred on Wednesday at Turmi village in the Fika local government, council chairman Yunusa Baba-Kulli told Radio Nigeria Kaduna.

"The relations and friends of a deceased had gathered in his compound to mourn his death when a heavy dowpour caused a thunderstorm. Seven people were struck dead on the spot while 17 were injured," he said.

He said the injured had been taken to the hospital for treatment.

The mayor of Douala III, the sprawling port capital of Cameroon's Littoral Province, said "Flooding demolished a house built near a stream and on a hillside, killing a 40-year-old man, his wife and their child."

Several other people were injured by landslides and flooding in the same area, witnesses told AFP in Yaounde, Cameroon's political capital, by telephone.

"In the Dokpassi district, the Ngoua river burst its banks and all the homes, as well as business premises and schools are under water," one resident said.

As in other countries where heavy rains have claimed lives, wrecked property and injured people, particularly in shanty towns, city authorities in both Douala and Yaounde have launched campaigns to warn residents of marshland and low-lying or unstable ground of the risks.