'Urgent' support needed as floods displace millions in west and central Africa

Urgent support is needed as extreme flooding continues to devastate west and central Africa, the UN has said.

For weeks, flooding has submerged parts of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, killing at least 700 and displacing more than 1,500,000.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing in Nigeria, where residents in some states remain marooned by the water, the nation's humanitarian affairs ministry has said.

The flooding, Nigeria’s worst in more than a decade, has killed at least 610 people and forced over a million from their homes.

The situation has also led to “a major increase in cholera cases and other preventable diseases in Nigeria,” the International Rescue Committee (IRC) warned in a statement on Friday, calling for more resources to scale up its response.

In neighbouring Niger, authorities said at least 192 people in the Maradi and Zinder regions have been killed, either from homes collapsing or drowning in floodwaters.

Tens of thousands in the nation have been displaced and many farmlands have been damaged.

"Humanitarian partners have distributed emergency supplies to the affected communities, including shelter kits, cooking and hygiene kits, but more support is urgently needed," the UN's humanitarian agency said on Twitter.

Experts point to unusual rainfalls and the failure of governments to set up early warning systems.

In west Africa, the floods are “majorly due to government negligence to environmental-related issues like climate change over a period of time,” said Ibrahim Raji, a climate researcher focusing on the region.

In Chad, the government declared a state of emergency last week after floods affected more than one million people there.

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“This catastrophe resulting from climate change is one of the most severe the region has known for years, acting as a multiplier of misery for communities already struggling to keep their heads above water,” said Chad’s interim leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.

The disaster has now worsened the fate of a nation already going through a food crisis, said Mbaindangroa Djekornonde Adelph, an analyst in Chad.

Long before the floods and Russia’s war in Ukraine, west Africa already was facing its worst food crisis in 10 years with more than 27 million people living in hunger, according to a report released by international aid organisations in April.

Chi Lael, a spokeswoman for the UN World Food Program in Nigeria, is concerned about the “worrying harvest season ahead".

Some farmers have lost close to 75% of everything planted this year, said Kabir Ibrahim, national president of the local farmers association.

The damage caused by the floods also extends to livestock in areas like Nigeria's Bayelsa state, where Innocent Aluu said he lost nearly 10,000 fowl in his poultry farm to the floods. Most of them died from waterborne diseases.

“I feel like running away - nobody can think straight,” a devastated Mr Aluu said, estimating his losses at 30 million naira (£59,600).

It is a similar story in Cameroon, where flood waters have caused significant damage in the northern region, destroying crops and houses.

“The rainfall this year is exceptional,” said Kousoumna Libaa, a climate specialist in Cameroon.

“There have been sustained rains since the beginning of the season, since August, September and even until October now, it continues to rain.” Experts fear that the damaged farmlands will further increase food prices at a time when inflation rates are already at record highs - Nigeria and Ghana at 20.7% and 37% respectively.