Flooding in Senegal

Horse-cart drivers navigate deep floodwaters on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday. ( Rebecca Blackwell, The Associated Press )

Fatal flooding overwhelms homes and businesses on western coast of Africa
By The Associated Press


FASS MBAO, Senegal — Torrential rains have lashed Africa's western coast for the past three months, killing 159 people and flooding the homes and businesses of more than 600,000 others, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs.

They include the patients of one of Burkina Faso's largest hospitals, who had to be carried out on gurneys after water invaded the wards. They include those living on the banks of a river in northern Niger, whose homes were swept away when a dike burst under the weight of the rain.
Among the six countries where the flooding has been most severe — Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger and Ghana — the neighborhoods most affected are the poor ones. Typically these communities are the result of urban sprawl, built without municipal approval, using unsafe materials.

The U.N. estimates that just in Senegal, 264,000 people have been affected by flooding. And although many families say their homes flood every year, they say that they do not have the money to move.