Niger: Niamey under water after torrential rains
The town of Naimey is under water after heavy rains, Niger, August 27, 2020. BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In Niamey, the water has risen to an unprecedented level.
The torrential rains of recent days have yielded dikes causing damage in rice paddies and devastating thousands of homes.
The Lamordé national hospital, the former CHU, is flooded.
President Mahamadou Issoufou visited the site on Tuesday morning.
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With our correspondent in Niamey
,
Moussa Kaka
The waters of the Niger River
continue to claim victims on the right bank of the river.
For 48 hours, the populations of the Saga, Lamordé, Nogare districts and their surroundings no longer know which saints to turn to.
The damage in the rice fields extends as far as the eye can see in Saga: “
So it was in less than two hours that we found ourselves inundated.
And I have been in this neighborhood since 1974
”, testifies a resident.
For nearly 60 years,
such amounts of rains
have not fallen on these shores of Niamey, says Aliza Abdou who has had her feet in the water since 5 am: “
Since I was born, I have never saw that.
This is the first time that I have seen water flooding us into our concession.
"
Visit of President Issoufou
The main dike in the Lamordé district did not hold up against the pressure of the river water.
Two open breaches inundated several thousand households in 24 hours in the neighborhood.
“
What is even more shocking is that the water has bypassed to go to the CHU which is completely flooded.
The sick must be evacuated.
It's a disaster,
”alarms Abderrahmane Umaru, a resident.
This is the second time that President Mahamadou Issoufou has stepped into the water by visiting the disaster victims: "
I would like here to reassure the affected populations about the arrangements being made to relocate them, to support them. in food, in food.
I would like them to know that they are not alone
.
"
On Monday, five snakes fleeing raging waters were killed in the concessions.
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Niger
Natural disasters
Water
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