floods - The African Mirror

Sep

2020

Made homeless by record floods, tens of thousands of Sudanese wait for aid

SUDANESE authorities and the United Nations are rolling out aid to tens of thousands who lost their homes in record Nile floods, but many of those camping out on roadsides and higher ground are despairing of when it will reach them. Sudan's government said it had allocated more than 150 million Sudanese pounds ($2.73 million) to help flood victims, the state news agency said. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said that with the help of the United Arab Emirates it had flown 100 metric tonnes of relief material including blankets, which will be distributed across 12 states. The floods have…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Floods kill at least 13 and injure 19 in Burkina Faso

NEWS

FLOODS have killed at least 13 people and injured 19 others in Burkina Faso following days of heavy rains across the country, including the capital, the government has announced. The finance ministry will allocate 5 billion CFA francs ($9.06 million) to help the flood victims, said government representative Abdoul Karim Sango. "This rainfall has caused a lot of damage in our country," he told Reuters. Many people had lost their homes, Sango said, without giving further details. The government has instructed the minister of Territorial Administration to house the disaster victims in public buildings, he said. It was not immediately…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Senegal activates emergency floods aid plan after downpour

NEWS

SENEGALESE President Macky Sall has activated an emergency aid plan after a seven-hour downpour caused widespread floods. Water Minister Serigne Mbaye Thiam told national television that more rain fell on a single day on Saturday than the country would usually see during three months of the rainy season. Senegalese President Macky Sall. Photo: © European Union 2013 - European Parliament "This is an exceptional rainfall. We registered 124 millimetres of rain. This is the cumulative rain we get during the whole rainy season from July to September," Thiam said. At least one person was reported missing due to the floods…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Niger floods kill 51, drive thousands from their homes

NEWS

SEVERE flooding in Niger this month has killed 51 people and destroyed thousands of homes after torrential rains caused rivers to burst their banks, authorities said on Monday. Floods are common during Niger’s rainy season, when overflowing rivers and streams sweep away homes and destroy crops. Since flooding started earlier in August, over 26,000 houses have collapsed, killing 37 people, while 14 others drowned, the ministry for humanitarian response said in a statement. President Mahamadou Issoufou visited District 5 of the capital Niamey on Monday, which had been flooded by the adjacent Niger River. Residents stood ankle-deep in brown water…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Floods kill scores in India, nine rhinos drown

WORLD

ZARIR HUSSAIN INTENSE rain and floods in the Indian state of Assam have killed at least 84 people and displaced more than 2.75 million since May, authorities have said , as they tried to collect the bodies of nine rare rhinos drowned in the past 10 days. Rescue teams were facing a double challenge of rising floodwaters amid the novel coronavirus as villagers driven from their homes huddled in shelters. "It's hard to enforce social distancing when people are being ordered to move away from the rising waters," said Sanghamitra Sanyal, a member of the northeastern state's flood management force.…