United Nations agencies on Tuesday warned that the worst floods seen in parts of Africa for decades could intensify in the coming days and appealed for international aid to avert the threat of disease.
About a million people have been affected by torrential rains stretching between West and East Africa since July, with Ghana and Uganda accounting for more than half the tally alone, the UN’s humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) said.
Cases of cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea have been reported in northern Ghana, where 260 000 people were affected by floods and the death toll has risen to 32, OCHA spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs told journalists.
Authorities there have declared a state of emergency and appealed for international help after bridges, homes and crops were destroyed, she added.
The World Food Programme appealed for $60-million in aid for Uganda, where about 300 000 people have been affected by floods in recent weeks and many people were homeless after their mud-based homes were swept away.
”We anticipate that the situation will worsen,” OCHA said in a situation report on Uganda.
Priority needs in Uganda included shelter, food and clean water, while concern about outbreaks of waterborne disease was growing as latrines mingled with flood waters.
The UN was expecting to launch an appeal for aid for Ghana after a three-day assessment by a team of UN disaster-relief experts, who reached the stricken areas with the help of Ghanaian authorities on Monday, Byrs said.
”They are expecting huge rainfall in West Africa between September 18 and 24,” Byrs said.
The appeal may include neighbouring Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest nations, she said.
The floods and severe rain in both Uganda and Ghana are being described as the worst seen in each country for at least three decades, Byrs said.
”The floods stretch from the Atlantic Coast to the Red Sea more or less,” Byrs underlined.
However, the UN’s relief coordination office was unable to give a complete picture of the situation across the continent, where more than a dozen countries were last week reported to have been affected to varying degrees. — AFP
