Monsoon havoc exposes West and Central Africa's rising flood risks

A man carries bread as he walks towards a grocery store, on a flooded street in Bamako, Mali September 23, 2024.REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Father-of-seven Dah Toubada Kadapia stood on a stack of homemade sandbags in his backyard in Chad's capital N'Djamena, surrounded by floodwaters that locals say have risen higher than past years, causing more damage than ever.

Over the last few months, heavy rains have floodedevery one of Chad's 23 provinces, burst a dam in northern Nigeria, damaged ancient buildings in Niger's desert town of Agadez, and killed more than 1,460 people in the countries on the fringes of the Sahara, according to U.N. aid agency OCHA.