N'DJAMENA, Chad
Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby declared a state of emergency on Wednesday over flooding that is affecting more than a million people in the central African country.
Floods are not uncommon
during Chad's
rainy season, which usually runs from May to October in its southern regions.
But this year the rains came early and were the heaviest in decades.
"Starting now, a state of
emergency will be instituted to better contain and manage this natural
disaster," said Deby in a televised address to the nation.
The flooding has affected 636
localities in 18 out of 23 provinces in the country, he said. The worst
affected are the southern provinces of Mayo Kebbi Est, Logone Occidental,
Tandjile, Moyen Chari and Mandoul.
Even in the capital,
N'Djamena, hundreds of people have fled their homes due to flooding
in the last few days.
The government has put in
place a response plan to provide shelter, food and sanitation, Deby said.
Chad has two main rivers,
the Chari and Logone, which flow through its southern provinces and empty into
Lake Chad, at the border area with Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon.
This year the lake was fed
early on by other tributaries and its water level became higher than that of
the two rivers, causing them to flow instead into surrounding towns and
villages, said Hamid Abakar Souleymane, a hydrologist at Chad's National
Meteorological Agency.
"You will have noticed
that all the countries which share Lake Chad are also flooded and
the phenomenon will continue until the end of the year," he said.
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