At least 20 people died and dozens were injured in the city of Maradi, in southern Niger, due to torrential rains that caused significant material damage, local sources informed EFE this Saturday.
The National Meteorological Service reported that the municipality recorded more than 156 millimeters of rain on Friday, causing severe flooding in several neighborhoods of the city.
“The rains started around 1:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT) and stopped around 9:00 p.m. local time (20:00 GMT), causing many houses to collapse throughout the city,” a resident of the city, located 660 kilometers east of the capital Niamey, told EFE.
“Almost all areas of the city have been affected by the floods, but it is mainly the old areas, where houses are mostly made of mud, that have suffered the most damage,” he added.
This disaster is due, according to Salia, to the fact that the few sewage and rainwater drainage channels in the city are poorly constructed to effectively perform their function. “They were quickly submerged by torrential rains due to the solid waste that residents dumped into them,” he lamented.
Many state infrastructures, such as the headquarters of the Regional Directorate of Education, are under water and the main road linking Maradi to the Zinder region is cut.
