At least 51 people have been killed after heavy rains in Niger.
The rains have flooded several towns and villages displacing over 26,000 people.
Niger’s capital Niamey has been reportedly shutdown by the floods.
Many homes have collapsed compelling the occupants to flee for safety. The rains have also submerged farmlands.
Niger’s Prime Minister, Brigi Rafini who visited the affected neighborhoods and families said with river dike rehabilitation work completed just before the rainy season, flooding should not have happened.
Rafini said additional measures will be taken to protect other threatened areas, adding that with climate change, “we are never safe from floods.”
Last year, floods in Niger killed at least 57 people and forced more than 132,500 to abandon their homes.
Meanwhile 89 people have died as a result of flooding in Sudan.
The AFP news agency reports than 38,000 homes have been destroyed.
“The Blue Nile has reached an all-time high since records began more than a century ago,” AFP quotes a statement from the irrigation and water ministry as saying.
Source: Africafeeds.com
