At least 621 people have been killed and thousands more displaced by floods around Lake Chad, which sits at the border region of several countries in Central and West Africa. Since early September, parts of Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria have experienced some of their heaviest rains in decades. Heavy rains have overwhelmed local systems, Justin Sheffield, a hydrologist at the University of Southampton, U.K., who helped develop flood-monitoring systems for the Lake Chad Basin, told Mongabay by phone. Climate change and difficulties in cross-border waterway coordination have worsened the situation. Here’s how the floods are affecting the Lake Chad Basin’s hardest-hit countries: Chad Floods in southern Chad killed at least 340 people and destroyed more than 160,000 homes and 259,000 hectares (640,000 acres) of farmland as of Sept. 10. More flooding is expected in the coming weeks as the Chari River, Lake Chad’s main tributary, swells with rainwater. On Sept. 16, water levels in the Chari reached 6.6 meters (21.5 feet), 35% above normal. By early October, they could reach 8.6 m (28 ft), surpassing the levels of the devastating 2022 floods, an official hydrological report said. The rising waters are worrying, Tob-Ro N’Dilbé, coordinator of Chad’s Virtual Flood Observatory, wrote in a local news outlet. The phenomenon is part of the effects of climate change, reinforced by human action degrading the environment day by day, he added. Nigeria Heavy rains in Nigeria left at least 269 people dead and displaced 70% of the residents of the city of Maiduguri…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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