September 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Authorities in Niger have raised the death toll to 273 as a result of severe flooding during the rainy season, which began more than two months ago and has also caused serious material damage and affected more than 700,000 people.
The Directorate General for Civil Protection has reported that among the victims are those who died from drowning or from the collapse of their homes — more than 70,000 homes have been destroyed –, according to the Nigerian news agency ANP.
These floods have caused the death of livestock and the destruction of schools, health centres, shops and the loss of food. Up to 201 of the country’s 266 municipalities have been affected.
At the end of August, Niger’s transitional government announced that it had allocated a budget of 12 billion CFA francs (18.3 million euros) to deal with the situation.
Niger is currently in the midst of the rainy season, which runs from June to September. Two years ago, in 2022, more than 190 people were killed, 200 injured and 250,000 affected. Last year, floods caused around fifty deaths, 80 injuries and 176,000 affected.
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