Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Tuesday he had gathered a special committee to mitigate the consequences of the extensive floods that left thousands of people homeless and killed dozens in the Niger River Basin.
The flooding began earlier in August after the Niger river overflowed its banks due to torrential rains not far from Niamey.
“Shortly after visiting the flooded neighbourhoods of the district 5 of Niamey (on Monday), I chaired a meeting of the flood monitoring committee in order to combine and enhance the efforts of the current government as well as those of the technical and financial partners,” Issoufou tweeted.
According to the recent data, more than 50 people died due to the flooding, and more than 220,000 were driven out of their homes across the affected areas.
The capital registered some 5,000 collapsed houses and 31,000 people affected by the flooding.
The calamity also vastly damaged the rice fields.
Niger, among the world’s driest countries, suffers from intense rain seasons that last two-three months. (Sputnik/NAN)
