Severe floods in Niger after months of heavy downpours have killed 159 people, authorities said Monday, marking one of the deadliest rainy seasons in history for a normally arid state, IgbereTV reports
The landlocked Sahel state’s annual rainy season typically runs between June and August or September.
But in recent years, rainfall has become more intensive, accelerating the risk of deadly flooding in shantytowns.
Official figures shared with AFP show that so far this year, 121 people have died when their houses collapsed and another 38 have drowned.
Powerful rains have destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of houses, plus classrooms, medical centres, granaries and cattle herds
