Update 21 October 2022:
On 19 October the head of the Chad government, Mahamat Déby, declared a state of emergency in the country in response to flooding in 636 localities across 18 of the country’s 23 provinces. He said flooding had affected over 1 million people, damaged 465,000 hectares of crops and destroyed 19,000 heads of livestock.
Meanwhile a report from the UN reveals as many as 49,569 people (10,340 households) have been forced from their homes and taken refuge in public spaces in the capital N’Djamena following the overflow of the Chari and Logone rivers which meet in the capital.
The UN said 3 sites have been identified by authorities in N’Djamena to shelter flood victims (Toukra, Melezi, Koundoul) and two other spontaneous sites (Ngueli Bridge and Walia Church) where flood victims gathered on their own have also been identified.
Almost 30 schools out of 74 in the 9th district of N’Djamena are flooded and inaccessible, leaving around 7,000 children and students without access to education.
There were unconfirmed reports that a dyke or embankment along the Logone river had failed near Kabé, just south of N’Djamena.
Original report, 16 October 2022:
More flooding has struck in the city of N’Djamena, capital of Chad, following the recent overflow of the Chari river.
A delegation including the Mayor of the city visited several affected districts on 14 October 2022. “From the 9th to the 1st district, the delegation went to learn about the situation of disaster victims and that of risk areas,” Mayor Ali Haroun said.
“Given the emergency, everyone is called on to help. Municipal Authorities of the 9th district and technicians are invited to work with associations, NGOs and any organization that wishes to provide support to the victims of disaster,” he added.
Flooding has forced hundreds of those living close to the river to leave their homes. The municipality has opened a park to house those displaced by the flood. However many have simply set up temporary camp on roadsides.
The Vicar General of the Archdiocese of N’Djamena, Samuel Mbairabé Tibinga, said in a statement of 12 October that the whole 9th district and part of the 7th district are under water. “The waters threaten to swallow us all,” he said.
The 7th and 9th districts were affected by flooding in early August this year. The Red Cross said the flooding affected 8,355 people in N’Djamena (6,180 in 9th and 2,175 people in 7th).
Flooding also affected other parts of the country nd by 30 August the provisional toll of the floods was 442,228 people (71,421 households) affected in 13 of the 23 regions; Batha, Chari-Baguirmi, Logone Oriental, Logone Occidental, Mandoul, Mayo-Kebbi, Mayo-Kebbi Ouest, N’Djamena, Ouaddai, Salamat, Sila, Tandjile and Guera.
At that time the region of Logone Occidental had the highest number of victims with 147,129 (21,627 households), followed by Mandoul with 82,608 (13,768 households) and Sila with 77,357 (13,703 households).
By early October, OCHA reported over 977,000 people were affected by floods in 18 of the 23 regions of the country. By comparison, 256,000 people were affected by the floods in 2021 and 388,000 in 2020.
