Flooding In Niger Has Forced Hundreds of People to Leave Their Homes

Torrential rain has destroyed hundreds of homes in Niamey, Niger.

Damola Durosomo
August 31, 2017

NIGER—Torrential rain has destroyed hundreds of homes in Niamey, Niger and surrounding areas since Sunday, reports Al Jazeera.

According to Niger's Director General of Civil Protections, Colonel Aboubacar Bako, the downpour has killed 44 people since June.

Residents in at-risk areas are being urged to evacuate and to head to public shelters, such as local schools to assure their safety.

People are sharing pictures and sending well wishes via social media. Others are pointing out the frequency with which natural disasters—particularly flooding—have occurred in various parts of the world recently. Floods have ravaged areas in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Houston within the last week as well. Sierra Leone is still recovering from a deadly mudslide that killed thousands earlier this month.

Niamey's location—it borders the Niger river—makes the city susceptible to flooding.  Last year, around 50 people were killed by severe flooding in the country.  These natural disasters are widening discussions around global warming and its effects on the environment—particularly as it relates, to what international relations buffs call, "the global South." For more on this, revisit our piece "Africa Will Be a Little Too Lit If We Don’t Do Something—a Conversation on Climate Change."

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