Floods generated by exceptional rainfall have killed more than 200 people and affected over a million more, in a band of countries from Senegal to Sudan, the UN and local authorities said Friday.
Aid needs are likely to surpass 2019 levels, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
In 11 countries in West and Central Africa, 760,000 people have been impacted and 110 killed, “and the rains are not over,” Julie Belanger, OCHA’s head for West and Central Africa, told AFP.
Another 103 people have died in Sudan, according to the country’s civil defence organisation, and OCHA said that more than half a million people were affected there.
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In Niger, one of the worst-hit countries, Prime Minister Brigi Rafini appealed for “support” during a meeting Friday in the capital Niamey with international NGOs and foreign diplomats.
Seventy-one people have died and 350,000 people have been affected.
Niger alone will need $10 million (8.4 million euros) in humanitarian assistance, according to OCHA.
Senegal has recorded six deaths, while nearly 190,000 people have been affected by floods in Chad, it said.
In Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, 26,000 people were impacted by the elevated waters.
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released $29 million in aid in 2019 for 1.1 million people in 11 flood-affected countries, Belanger said.
[AFP]
