NIAMEY, Sept 20 (NNN-NEWVISION) – Severe floods in Niger after months of downpours have killed 159 people, authorities said, marking one of the deadliest rainy seasons in history for a normally arid state.
Official figures showed that so far this year, 121 people have died when their houses collapsed and another 38 have drowned. The new toll is up from the latest update of 103 dead by early September.
Powerful rains have destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of houses, plus classrooms, medical centres, granaries and cattle herds.
Some 225,539 people have been affected and nearly 200 more injured, the figures showed.
The meteorological service has warned heavy rain will continue until the end of the month.
The floods have combined with regional droughts and insurgencies that have badly hit harvests.
Niger is going through a serious food crisis with health monitors warning more than 4.4 million people are facing “severe” food insecurity, a fifth of the population. — NNN-NEWVISION
