Authorities in Niger have declared the highest red level of alert in Niamey due to a sharp rise in the water level of the Niger River. The water level has exceeded the usual level by 647 cm, leading to the flooding of many neighborhoods in the capital, according to the RTN TV channel.
The Niger River overflow is caused by several days of continuous heavy rains and the release of water from dams upstream in Mali, which is also experiencing flooding.
Significant areas are also flooded in another neighboring country, Nigeria. According to the Punch newspaper, the governor of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi, announced that over 40,000 families have lost their homes due to the floods.
In Burkina Faso, significant sections of National Highway No. 1, which leads to the capital Ouagadougou, are underwater. Reservoirs in Bagre, Kompienga, and Ziga are overflowing, reported the Burkina24 portal.
Authorities in Chad consider the current weather conditions in the country unprecedented. Unusually heavy rains have flooded not only the Chadian sector of the Sahel—a semidesert region—but also parts of the Sahara Desert in the north of the country, noted the Al Wihda portal.
Large areas of agricultural crops have been destroyed, and the multiplication of caterpillars and locusts threatens to wipe out the remaining harvest. Farmers have been advised to urgently vaccinate their livestock against diseases that are typical for countries with a humid climate, unlike usually arid Chad.
According to meteorologists, rains in the past couple of weeks have affected several countries in West and Central Africa, including Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo. UN experts estimate the total number of affected people at 700,000.