Floods in West Africa displace nearly 1 million people

Recent heavy rains and floods across Mali, Nigeria and Niger have forced nearly 950,000 people from their homes.

NGO Save the children alerted Friday (Sep. 06) about the risk of disease, hunger from crop destruction, and disruption to education that the situation incurs to the hundreds of thousands of children now displaced.

While this is normally the rainiest time of the year in West Africa, this year’s rains have been more severe than usual.

Widespread flood have affected 29 of the Nigeria’s 36 states. The torrential rainfall has led to the overflowing of dams and rising water levels of the two largest rivers, the Niger and the Benue.

Three Malian regions in the west and Gao in the northeast have been hit. In neighboring Niger, flooding has affected all 8 regions and floods beginning in May washed away houses and leaving behind a thread of destruction. The Maradi region in the country’s south which was mostly hit, accord to Save the Children.

At least 460 people have been killed in the three countries.

The is responding to flood victims’ needs in the Segou region of Mali through food security programs, cash transfers, the provision of water, hygiene and sanitation services, and child protection activities. The Segou region is the most affected in Mali, with 15,656 children affected, constituting about 51 per cent of the total affected children population.

In Nigeria, Save the Children is responding in Adamawa state, distributing foldable mattresses, blankets, and hygiene and sanitation products to the most vulnerable flood-affected households including children and the elderly.

In the global response to the climate crisis, Save the Children has calling for national governments to “rapidly phase out the use and subsidy of fossil fuels and ensure a just and equitable transition in order to limit warming temperatures to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.”