Floods hit millions across Central and West Africa

Nairobi (dpa)

More than 500 people have died in torrential rains and flooding that have devastated large parts of Western and Central Africa, the United Nations reported on Monday.

In Chad alone, 1 million people have been hit by the floods, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. Flooding has affected a further 600,000 people in Nigeria and 300,000 in Niger.

Cameroon, Mali and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are coping with flooded roads and fields and wrecked homes. The figures are three times the numbers recorded in previous rainy seasons.

The situation across the Sahel region and around Lake Chad was deteriorating as a result of the effects of conflict, displacement and climate change, Hassane Hamadou, Norwegian Refugee Council director for the region, said.

In Sudan, more than 10 million people have been displaced.

Almost half a million people have now been hit by flooding, and cholera has broken out.

According to UN figures, 735,000 people have been hit by flooding in South Sudan and at least 65,000 have been made homeless.