Floods kill more than 500 people in Chad
More than 500 people are reported to have lost their lives in Chad following major floods caused by heavy rains in the country.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Chad has announced that the rains that continue to fall in Chad since July have killed 503 people and affected more than 1.7 million people.
According to various reports, "117 out of 125 counties have been affected" where 212,111 houses and 357,832 plots of land have been destroyed while more than 69,659 cows have been washed away.
Marcelin Kanabé Passalé, Chad's Minister of Water and Energy has said, these rains have caused major floods that have affected all the states of the country, causing hundreds of people to lose their lives but also great damage to infrastructure and livestock.
The minister has also announced the establishment of a flood monitoring committee, to "assess the risks associated with the pollution of drinking water sources and rising river levels". Some reports say that the water of the Logone River and the Chari River has reached a high level that could cause flooding in the future.
The United Nations warned at the beginning of this September about the effects of "heavy rains and severe flooding" in the region, especially in Chad, and called for "urgent measures and adequate funding" to deal with the "crisis of the situation air".
