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SITUATION OVERVIEW
Seasonal floods and subsequent water-borne disease outbreaks are a perennial risk for countries in West and Central Africa. Heavy rainfall, exacerbated by climate change, coupled with limited water drainage infrastructure and the vulnerability of populations displaced by other causes, rapidly impacts large numbers of people in the region.
In 2022, 8.5 million people were affected by regional floods, leading to the displacement of 3.2 million people. In 2023, 4.5 million people were affected, leading to the displacement of 235.5k people. With two months remaining of the year, during which floods historically reach a peak, 7.1 million have already been affected. Of these, more than a million have been displaced.
This year’s severe flooding is proving much more extensive than in previous years when attention could be focused on just a few affected countries. So far in 2024, 18 of the 24 countries in West and Central Africa have already experienced floods. The Lake Chad Basin countries (Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon) have been disproportionately affected, accounting for 5.3 million people affected. Many of these people are already displaced by conflict or are more acutely impacted by hazards due to poor infrastructure and poverty.
The flooding impacts water and sanitation, health infrastructure and medical care for children. Education facilities have been destroyed, or sometimes are used by those displaced. As a result, access to education has been impacted for an estimated 10 million children across Niger, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali. In Nigeria, UNICEF was able to reunite 181 children following their separation from families due to the floods. With cholera already arriving in many countries, and general vaccine stocks also destroyed by flood waters, children in West and Central Africa are facing a high-risk situation that continues to worsen with each passing day.
SITUATION IN NUMBERS (as of 16 October 2024)
7.1 million PEOPLE AFFECTED
4,496 PEOPLE INJURED
1,501 PEOPLE DEAD
1 million PEOPLE DISPLACED
555 SCHOOLS AFFECTED
169 HEALTH FACILITIES AFFECTED