Niger – Deadly Floods in Niamey, 200 Homes Destroyed

Update, 14 September 2017:

In a report of 12 September, International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies gave more detailed damage assessments of the floods in Niger of late August.

In the report, IFRC said:

“In the night of Saturday 26 to Sunday 27 August 2017, continuous rain resulted in extensive flooding, destruction of houses and loss of household belongings in several areas of Niger. The floods affected all the eight administrative regions of the country, including Agadez, Diffa, Dosso, Maradi, Niamey, Tahoua, Tillabery and Zinder.

“According to the rapid assessment carried out by the NRCS and the government officials (directorate of the Civil Protection), at least 10,313 households (84,427 people) have been affected, with 8,158 houses destroyed completely and 1,064 houses partially destroyed. It has been reported that 44 people have been killed and many others injured, which have been referred to the national hospital of Niamey for better treatment. Further, the flood has devastated at least 1,706 hectares of agricultural land with crops and 145,115 kgs of stored food washed out by water. In addition, 253 small ruminants, 4,119 cattle heads and 500 chickens have been washed away by the water.”

See the full report here.

Original report, 31 August 2017:

Heavy rain and flooding in Niamey, capital of Niger, have left at least 2 dead, 4 wounded and over 200 homes destroyed.

Heavy rain began to fall early on 26 August, causing flooding in Niamey and surrounding areas. Reports suggest around 100 mm of rain fell in the capital. Civil protection officials told residents to evacuate vulnerable areas.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported that 2 people had died in the floods.

According to Niger government reports, 219 houses were destroyed and over 1,000 people made homeless. Gabagoura, a village just outside Niamey, was the worst affected area.

Prime Minister Brigi Rafini visited Gabagoura and other affected areas including Sonuci Nord and Koira Tégui on 27 August.

“The impacts of precipitation in recent days are extremely worrying, and that’s why we went out early this morning to take the exact measure of the work to be done; We are committed to providing solutions to people who are mostly homeless. The municipality and the governorate will put in place an emergency plan so that, in connection with our partners, we can come to the rescue of those people who are very worried today, ” the Prime Minister said.

Map of Flood Hit Areas

The map below is provided by UNITAR – UNOSAT. It illustrates the satellite-detected surface waters extent and evolution over Niamey and surroundings in Niger as observed from the Sentinel-1 images acquired on 14 and 26 August 2017.

Within the analysed area, an increase of surface waters extent was observed from the 26 August 2017 image: ~7,870 ha of surface water were observed the 14 August 2017 and reached ~10,210 ha the 26 August 2017. All over the analysed zone, it corresponds to an evolution of about 30%.

In Niamey an increase of water surface of 320 ha was observed corresponding to an evolution of ~20% by comparison to the surface water detected on 14 August 2017.

This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. The full map can be seen here.

Maradi and Zinder Regions

The heavy rains in Niamey follow those recorded last week in the regions of Maradi and Zinder in south-eastern Niger.

In Zinder, more than 110 mm of rain fell in just 30 minutes, according to local media.

Seven fatalities were reported and 19,828 people affected.

38 Killed in Floods Since May 2017

UNOCHA said that as of 21 August, floods in Niger have affected 64,616 people and caused the death of 38 since May 2017.

Heavy rain between 13 and 14 June, 2017, caused severe damage and flooding in several parts of the country, with Niamey and Tillabéri the most severely affected. At least 14 fatalities were reported.

In Mid July, heavy rain in the departments of Tchintabaraden and Abalak (Tahoua region) caused major flooding affecting around 20,000 people and causing severe damage to farms in the area.

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