NEWS: FLOODS DELAY NEW SCHOOL YEAR IN NIGER REPUBLIC
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According to Niger’s administration, severe rains and flooding have pushed back the start of the new school year by about a month.
Since June, torrential rains have pounded the huge West African nation, killing scores and hurting hundreds of thousands.
The military-led Sahelian country is among many in central and western Africa experiencing significant flooding during an exceptionally wet season.
The government said that the country’s almost 4.5 million students’ first day of school, which had been scheduled for October 2, would now be moved to October 28.
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“Several schools have been impacted, others (are) occupied by those affected,” a government round-up read out on state television said late Thursday.
In central-southern Maradi, the most seriously affected area, over 100 tents have been built to house people in schools.
According to the most recent interior ministry numbers dated September 4, 273 individuals were killed, with 121 drowning and 152 dying as a result of falling dwellings.
Authorities warned earlier this month that heavy rains had affected more than 700,000 people.
More than 9,700 metric tonnes of grain were made accessible to individuals living in eight flood-affected regions this month, according to the administration, which added that “the situation is under control.”.
A popular mid-19th century mosque made of mud and straw in Zinder, Niger’s second largest city, collapsed earlier this month due to excessive rainfall.
Concerns have also been raised in the northern city of Agadez, regarded as the gateway to the desert, regarding damage to its historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Niger’s rainy season, which typically lasts from June to September, takes a high toll, with 195 people dying in 2022.
Scientists have long warned that climate change, caused by fossil fuel emissions, is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme weather events like floods.
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