The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that floods in the Sahel and other parts of West and Central Africa have reached catastrophic levels, affecting more than 5 million people in 16 countries so far this year. Chad, Niger and Nigeria are among the hardest hit, accounting for more than 80 percent of those impacted.
In an update Thursday, OCHA said more than 1,000 people have been killed and at least 740,000 displaced. Hundreds of thousands of homes, more than a hundred schools and dozens of health facilities have been damaged. Vast areas of farmland have also been destroyed or damaged.
According to FEWS NET, as of mid-September, heavy rains had resulted in flooded farmland in many parts of the region, with more than 2 million hectares of farmland inundated, most severely in Nigeria (727,250 hectares), Chad (647,890 hectares) and Mali (544,172 hectares). Burkina Faso, Niger and Cameroon also experienced above-average flooding.
Without adequate support, the flooding threatens to disrupt the reopening of schools scheduled for October. The floods could also exacerbate existing food insecurity and malnutrition, particularly in Chad, Niger and northeastern Nigeria. The precarious living conditions of people affected by the floods also increase the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera, which is spreading in many regions of Niger and Nigeria.
The extreme weather has exacerbated existing humanitarian crises in Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Aid agencies are urgently calling for increased international support to reach the most vulnerable. According to OCHA, humanitarian agencies are mobilizing and supporting the response, including food and health assistance, but their efforts are limited by a lack of funding.
Acting UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya has allocated US$35 million to support the response in five of the affected countries - Chad, Niger, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congo - but more funding is urgently needed.
Chad
Since late July, torrential rains have caused flooding in all 23 provinces of Chad, affecting more than 1.9 million people - or 10 percent of Chad's population - and killing at least 576 people as of October 1. More than 217,000 homes have been destroyed and some 650,000 hectares of farmland are under water.
More heavy rains are forecast, which could worsen the situation. The situation remains highly volatile.
As of October 1, humanitarian agencies announced that they had received $20.4 million in funding for emergency relief in the hardest-hit areas. With needs increasing, the funding gap at that time was 84 percent.
The Chad Humanitarian Response Plan 2024 is currently only 43 percent funded, with $485 million received.
Niger
In Niger, this year's rainy season has been particularly devastating. Over the past three months, flooding across the country - exacerbated by climate change - has affected more than 1 million people, displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes, washed out roads and claimed 322 lives. The floods also killed livestock and destroyed vast tracts of farmland.
The 2024 Niger Humanitarian Response Plan is currently only 43 percent funded, with $282 million received.
Nigeria
On Wednesday, Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator Msuya also allocated $5 million from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to scale up the response to flooding in Nigeria's Borno and Bauchi states in the northeast and Sokoto in the northwest. The announcement follows the increasing impact of flooding on people's lives, livelihoods and food security across Nigeria at the height of the rainy season.
More than 300 people have lost their lives. At least 1.2 million people in 31 states have been affected, according to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Thousands of hectares of farmland have been damaged ahead of the harvest.
“Floods across Nigeria have created a crisis within a crisis,” said United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fal.
“Millions of people were already facing critical levels of food insecurity before the floods because of economic hardships that have made it exceedingly difficult for the most vulnerable to feed themselves and their families. The floods have compounded people’s suffering.”
The new funds will help humanitarian agencies reach 280,000 people in these three states with food, clean water, sanitation and shelter. The funds will also help rapidly mobilize resources to improve access to health care, including preventing the spread of cholera and other waterborne diseases. The resources will also be used to improve protection services, including addressing gender-based violence, and to support people with disabilities.
The CERF funding complements a $6 million allocation from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe in the northeast of the country, where more than half a million people have been affected by the floods. These states are experiencing cholera outbreaks that have claimed dozens of lives at the height of a food security and malnutrition crisis that is expected to affect five million people by October.
The $927 million 2024 Nigeria Humanitarian Response Plan is currently only 50 percent funded, with $458 million received.