Niger Expecting Severe Floods

The United Nations have warned people in Niger to be on high alert for severe flooding later this year.

The United Nations’ Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has said that the flooding will affect more than 100 000 people in various regions of the country.

Heavy rains are set to fall in the coming months that will cause devastating floods.

This will not be the first time that Niger will be struck by heavy flooding. Back in 2012, flooding in the country killed more than 100 people.

The people living in Niamey will be most affected when the heavy rains hit, as the Niger River is expected to flood.

The Niger River is home to more than 100 million people, stretching all the way from Guinea to Nigeria and has an estimated ‘flood basin’ of 2 million square kilometers.

In an attempt to protect their people from flooding, local governments in the area are starting to build levees along the embankment of the river to stop flooding when it occurs.

The severe flooding on the area can be attributed to climate change and also the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, which has wrecked havoc on various countries in Africa – including devastating droughts in sub-Saharan Africa.