The Nigerien Interior Ministry announced that “floods caused the deaths of 273 people, 121 of whom drowned.” More than 700,000 people have been affected by the heavy rains.
Some 273 people have died in Niger and more than 700,000 have been affected by the heavy rains that have hit the country since June and which, on Tuesday, caused the collapse of a centuries-old mosque, an official source reported on Wednesday.
According to the Nigerien Ministry of the Interior, on September 4, “The floods caused the death of 273 people, 121 of whom drowned and 152 died when their houses collapsed.”
The ministry also counted 710,767 people affected and 278 injured by the bad weather, which affected communities across the country, including the capital, Niamey.
“We are going through an extremely difficult period due to torrential rains and severe flooding.” “The humanitarian action and disaster management minister, Aissa Laouan Wandarama, deplored the “significant human and material losses.”
On Tuesday, An important mosque collapsed in Zinder following the torrential rains that fell on this large city in the center-east of the country.
“It is the oldest mosque in Zinder and yesterday it was completely destroyed. [terça-feira] “after torrential rains,” Ali Mamane, a resident of Zinder, told French news agency AFP.
The Zinder region is one of the hardest hit by the intense rainy season that has been hitting Niger, a vast desert country affected by climate change, since June.
Images of the building’s gradual collapse, which ended in its total collapse in the city’s Birni district, where the Sultanate of the region is located, were widely disseminated in the press. social networks.
????NIGER ?????????| #floods: loss of human life, considerable material damage, thousands of houses destroyed and many displaced. From Maradi Zinder to Tahoua, from Niamey to Agadez, the rain is bringing mourning to the country. 304 mm of rain fell on Tuesday in the town of #Damagaram_Takaya. pic.twitter.com/BQWmk7eh5J
– Nanana365 (@nanana365media) September 4, 2024
Built in the mid-19th century, The mosque was a great symbol for the inhabitants of the country’s second largest city.
“For hundreds of years, believers came from all over to pray there every Friday and on Muslim holidays,” said El Hadj Mansour Kakalé, a local religious leader.
Built from a mixture of earth and straw, it is on the list of the most visited mosques in the country, after Agadez (north), built in 1515 and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, according to the Ministry of Tourism of Niger, which recently restored it.
“Cracks were seen in some places, but we were unable to intervene due to the rain,” said a local ministry official.
In the town of Maradi, capital of the region of the same name and neighbouring Zinder, 15 people died in a single day last week due to torrential rains.
During the rainy season, which runs from June to September, Niger has been experiencing recurring floods for several years, particularly in the more desert areas of the north, where significant damage has occurred again this year, which is paradoxical in this dry country, where crop losses are often due to drought.
Source: Observadora
