At least 94 people have lost their lives and those affected have exceeded 137,000 in the floods that have hit Niger since June, the ministry of humanitarian action and disaster management of the Sahel state announced yesterday.
The Nigerian authorities' tally as of August 7 spoke of 137,156 people affected, 93 injured and “unfortunately, 94 lives lost, including 44 from drowning and 50 from house collapses,” Minister Aisha Lawan Oudarma explained during a press conference yesterday.
A previous count, announced on July 15 by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), put the death toll at 53 and 18,000 affected. According to the same source, those affected may exceed 247,000 before the rainy season ends in September. desert, OCHA noted.
The capital Niamey, which had remained unscathed until now, was hit and it now counts at least four deaths and several injuries, according to the interior ministry. While it was decided to make several power cuts for “security reasons” after substations of the distribution network were flooded, NIGELEC, Niger's public electricity company, said.
All eight counties of the country are affected, especially Maradi (centre-south), Zinder (centre-east) and Tawa (west).
The minister also expressed concern about the possibility of a “drinking water shortage” in the affected areas and the spread of diseases such as “malaria, malaria and cholera”.
Always according to the minister, more than 15,000 houses and about forty school rooms were destroyed, while “15,472” farmed animals were lost in the country, where livestock farming is one of the pillars of the economy.
For his part, the Nigerian Minister of Transport, Colonel Salisu Maaman Salisu, said that roads and bridges are impassable due to the waters, some of them in the Agadez desert zone (north).
The national Niger's meteorological service predicts heavy rainfall in August, which is generally considered the country's “rainiest month”.
In order to limit the number of casualties and damage, authorities are sending SMS messages to residents urging to 'stay home', to 'guarantee the safety of their animals' and indicating a telephone number they can call in case of emergency.
The rainy season (June-September) is often deadly in Niger , even in desert-covered areas of the country with a generally dry climate.
In 2022, the death toll was extremely heavy, with 195 dead and 400,000 affected.
The 2023, floods left behind 52 dead, 80 injured and 176,000 affected, according to Niger's interior ministry.
