Torrential Downpours Have Destroyed Homes and Devastated Fields, Raising Concerns About Rising Hunger

More than 2.7 million people have been affected by torrential rains that caused severe flooding in Central and East Africa, including 1.7 million people in Chad, one million in Nigeria and more than 230,000 in Cameroon. With hundreds of thousands of homes and fields submerged, Action Against Hunger is calling on funding to enable a swift emergency response to help the region’s most vulnerable populations.

Chad

The rains in Chad began at the end of July and have not subsided, with widespread impacts across the Lac, Mayo-Kebbi Est, Mandoul, Tandjilé  and Batah provinces. The Sila province, which has been welcoming refugees from Sudan’s civil war, is also badly affected. To date, the floods have killed over 500 people and destroyed more than 210,000 houses, 880,000 acres of fields, and nearly 70,000 cattle, posing a severe hunger risk in a country where 3.4 million people are already acutely food insecure.

“The affected populations are facing critical needs for food, drinking water, shelter, health and protection,” said Gusatve Gnagny, Action Against Hunger’s Country Director in Chad. “According to initial estimates, nearly $100 million is needed to bring relief to these stricken populations. So far, barely 10% of this sum has been mobilized.”