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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
Niger floods force 23,000 from their homes |
2019-10-21 |
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Floods in southeast Niger have forced 23,000 people to flee their homes since early October, officials said Saturday, threatening a new humanitarian crisis in a region already wracked by Boko Haram![]() murderous Moslem violence. Heavy rains have caused the Komadougou Yobe river that flows through the semi-desert Diffa region into Lake Chad to burst its banks, inundating villages, flooding fields and damaging crops. Two villages near the city of Diffa were "completely submerged" and 2,500 households have been forced to move, according to national radio the Voice of the Sahel. Some 400 families were sheltering in a gym in the city, it added. "We have been fighting for days to stop the water rising, but it’s not working," Amadou Issa, a rice farmer, told AFP. "The sandbags we’ve been using to keep the water out are completely under water." Extreme weather events are common in Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries. Between June and September 57 people were killed and more than 130,000 affected by flooding according to government figures. The capital Niamey was hit badly in September, with the waters of the Niger River ‐ the third biggest in Africa ‐ rising to a level not seen in more than 50 years and swamping parts of the city. Related: Boko Haram: 2019-10-14 Caravan of up to 2,000 migrants headed to the US from Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America is abruptly stopped and detained by Mexico Boko Haram: 2019-10-13 Seven people killed in attacks by terrorists in Nigeria’s Borno Boko Haram: 2019-10-12 Troops overrun Boko Haram terrorists, kill 15 in Borno Related: Lake Chad: 2019-08-25 Twelve dead in Boko Haram Niger attack: Official Lake Chad: 2019-08-02 Dozens killed in Nigeria fighting between army, jihadists Lake Chad: 2019-07-08 Boko Haram members killed as NAF launches airstrike against terrorists’ structures |
Posted by:Fred |