Floods in mostly arid Niger have killed 21 people and affected more than 6,000 others during just the first few weeks of the African country's rainy season that runs through September, a government official said.
Thirteen people were killed when their homes collapsed and eight died by drowning following heavy rains, Colonel Boubacar Bako, the director-general of civil protection, said on national TV on Thursday evening.
From the Maradi region of south-central Niger, 35-year-old resident Ali Abdou told The Associated Press by phone that heavy rains destroyed houses in his community.
"It is only the first rain of the season, and our houses are already down," Abdou said.
The rainy season, which lasts from June to September, regularly claims many lives in Niger, including in desert areas.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that floods and heavy rains hitting the country in recent years are the result of climate change. Last year, 52 people died and 176,000 were affected by floods in Niger, the Interior Ministry said.
Niger's population struggles with periodic droughts and heat waves during the dry season.
The Maradi region has been most affected by the floods so far this year, accounting for 14 of the 21 deaths, Bako said during his televised announcement.
Niger's capital, Niamey, and its 2 million inhabitants, usually hit by deadly floods, have been spared so far.
But in a suburb of Niamey, the mud-brick house of resident Maiga Harouna, 56, collapsed during the torrential rain.
"We desperately need help from the government before the second rain arrives," Harouna said.
The government has not yet announced any plans for relocating people who lost homes because of the floods.
