According to humanitarian organisations and the official weather agency, Chad has had its highest seasonal rainfall in more than 30 years, which has prompted thousands of people to abandon their flooded homes during the past month.
Families have crammed aboard wooden boats in N’Djamena’s eighth district to traverse streets that have been covered in foul floodwater since the end of July.
During the country’s rainy season, which typically lasts from May to October in its central and southern parts, floods are not unheard of. However, this time the rains came earlier and in greater quantity, immediately flooding ponds and drainage systems.
Hassan Hissein Acheik, a resident of the eighth district, said, “It’s truly sad to see so many people suffering, none of the areas in the (eighth) district were spared by the floods this year.
Large parts of West and Central Africa, from N’djamena to Dakar in Senegal, have been submerged under water as a result of above-average rainfall in numerous nations during the previous month.
According to the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative index, the region’s countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change, and in recent years, heavy rainfall, land degradation, and poor urban planning have contributed to an increase in flood disasters.
Idriss Abdallah Hassan, a senior official at the state weather bureau, told the media on Monday that the country had not experienced such a volume of rainwater since 1990 and described the situation as disastrous.
He stated, “Whole towns have found themselves under water.”
Some residents of N’Djamena have taken refuge on the grounds of a nearby school, pitching improvised shelters made of twigs and scraps of fabric that offer insufficient protection from the hovering clouds of mosquitoes.
Caroline Mossédé, a 41-year-old widow, claimed that since their home was destroyed by the flood, she and her four children had been sleeping on the streets at the 9th district school without any money for the past three weeks.
“The mosquitoes have us in their crosshairs. We lack food, and several of us are sick with malaria. Nobody is considering aiding us, and the government is observing us from a distance as if we were migratory birds.”
According to N’Djamena Mayor Ali Haroun, the administration has established an emergency crisis committee to provide food, blankets, and medical supplies to flood victims.
He told the journalists on Monday, “But we are mindful of the mounting needs of our compatriots who are in trying circumstances.
