Floods exacerbated by climate change wreak havoc in Africa October 29, 2024

This aerial view shows a general view of the city of Lokoja along the Niger River on October 21, 2024. (File/AFP)

By AFP -Agence France Presse

Floods exacerbated by climate change wreak havoc in Africa

by Leslie Fauvel, with AFP offices in Dakar, Libreville and Abidjan

Every rainy season for the past 12 years, floods have swept away the home of 67-year-old Idris Egbunu in central Nigeria.

It's always the same story: the River Niger overflows and the water takes over his house for weeks on end until he can return and take stock of the damage.

The house then needs cleaning, repairs, fumigation, and repainting until the next rainy season.

Flooding is almost inevitable around Lokoja, in the Nigerian state of Kogi, where Africa's third largest river meets its main tributary, the Benue.

But in vast areas of Africa, climate change has disrupted weather patterns and made flooding much more severe especially this year.

The devastating floods are threatening the survival of millions of the continent's inhabitants. Homes have been destroyed and crops ruined, putting regional food security at risk.

Torrential rains and severe flooding have affected an estimated 6.9 million people in West and Central Africa so far in 2024, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

'Very, very bad'

Residents and authorities around Lokoja said that the floods became more serious in Kogi state in 2012 and have hit the area every year since.

Experts estimate that by 2030, up to 118 million Africans already living in poverty will be exposed to droughts, floods, and intense heat © OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP.

In 2022, Nigeria's worst floods in a decade killed more than 500 people and displaced 1.4 million.

Sandra Musa, an advisor to the Kogi state governor's emergency agency, believes that this year's floods have not yet reached the level seen in 2022 but warned that they were “very, very bad.”

“Normally, at this time of year, the water level drops, but here it's rising again,” she told AFP, estimating that the floods affected around two million people in the state.

Fatima Bilyaminu, a 31-year-old mother and trader, can only reach her home in the Adankolo district of Lokoja by boat because of the waters.

The swollen river rises almost to the windows while water hyacinths float beside the ruined building.

“I've lost everything. My bed, my cushioned chair, my closet, my kitchen equipment,” she told AFP.

With no money to rent a house elsewhere, she has no choice but to continue living in the small concrete building and repair it, flood after flood.

Damage and displacement

Africa is suffering the impact of climate change, even though it only contributes around 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent report by the World Meteorological Organization.

This year is expected to overtake 2023 as the hottest ever recorded in the world.

“This year has been unusual in terms of the amount of rainfall, with many extreme events, which is one of the signs of climate change,” said Aida Diongue-Niang from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In the Sahel region, which borders the Sahara desert, the volume, intensity, and duration of the rains were “unprecedented,” according to Amadou Diakite from Mali's Meteo meteorological service.

In Niger, some regions recorded up to 200% more rainfall than in previous years, the national meteorological service reported. The waters have endangered the historic center of the city of Agadez, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the desert north.

Across the border in Chad, torrential rains since July have killed at least 576 people and affected 1.9 million, more than 10% of the population, according to a report published by OCHA.

In neighboring Cameroon, the UN body said torrential rains have destroyed more than 56,000 homes and flooded tens of thousands of hectares of crops.

Floodwaters swept through the capital, Conakry, in Guinea, while flooding in Monrovia reignited debates about building another city to serve as Liberia's capital.

Entire neighborhoods in Mali's capital, Bamako, were submerged, leaving waste and septic tank liquids running down the streets.

In August, torrential rains caused the roof of the century-old Tomb of Askia in the Malian city of Gao to collapse.

Several countries have postponed the start of the school year as a result of the floods.

'It keeps getting worse'

“It used to be a decadal cycle of flooding, and now we're in an annual cycle,” said Clair Barnes, a researcher at the Environmental Policy Center at Imperial College London.

“This is only going to get worse if we keep burning fossil fuels,” she said.

As global temperatures rise, extreme weather events will increase in frequency and intensity, scientists warn.

Experts estimate that by 2030, up to 118 million Africans already living in poverty will be exposed to droughts, floods, and intense heat.

Building along riverbanks also poses a risk, said Youssouf Sane, from Senegal's meteorological agency, calling on governments to reflect on the relationship between climate change and urbanization.

But Diongue-Niang, from the IPCC, said that the only way to deal with extreme weather is to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is not up to the region - it's up to all of humanity,” she said.

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