2016 Niger flood

Heavy rains during the months of June, July and August 2016 resulted in extreme flooding of various rivers throughout Niger, particularly the Niger River, where the floods caused material damage and loss of life in Niger and other countries along the river's path.[1][2][3][4]


2016 Niger floods
DateJune–September 2016
LocationNiger
Deaths38
Property damage9.000 homes, approximately 26.000 livestock

Since 2000, flooding in Niger has intensified,[5] with the most serious threats concentrated in the southwestern part of Niger and along the banks of the Niger River.

Causes
  • Wetland degradation: The ecology of the Niger River has been devastated by various land use changes. There is not enough vegetation to retain water, making floods more likely during the rainy season. [6][7]
  • Global climate change: Increased seasonal rainstorms (various extreme weather effects).[8]
  • Cities in Niger have poor planning and have not been able to adapt to rapidly growing population changes.[9] Drainage systems are approaching capacity, and many towns even lack drainage networks. Because of rapid population growth, residents have built houses without planning and organization. The dumping of garbage on the streets blocks surface runoff during heavy rain events.
  • Excessive upstream dam discharge: Large amounts of water are released during the rainstorm season. The water volume downstream of the river channel increases and the water level of the river rises.

Hydrological and meteorological observations
The Niger River basin includes area in Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Algeria, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.

The worst affected regions were the desert areas of Tahoua in the west and Agadez in the north, and to a lesser extent, the region of Maradi.[1][4] Extremely fast rise of the river levels were recorded. Within a week, a rise of 1.90 m was recorded in the Sirba station in Garbé Kourou. A station on the Gorouol River, a tributary of the Niger River, measured a rise of 2.9 m over a two-week period at the end of July, the highest river level recorded in over 50 years of the station’s operation.[2][10] Water levels continued to rise, reaching their highest mark on 6 September since 1964 in the Inner Niger Delta.[3]

The high river levels could have been exacerbated by uncommon extreme rain events throughout the Niger river basin, such as rainfall exceeding 200mm per day on May 23rd in Niger, lengthy rainy period in Guinea and Mali from August 9th to August 27th, and unusual rains in the Azawagh region, exceeding 200mm on August 13th, and around 50mm on both August 27th and 29th.[11][12][13]

Impacts

The sub-Saharan region has seen an increase in the occurrence and intensity of floods during the past two decades, with the consequence of destabilizing food supply and health in an area already affected by extreme poverty and rapid population growth.[14][15][16]

According to estimates, the 2016 flood resulted in the loss of at least 38 lives and destroyed around 9.000 homes, leaving thousands of people homeless. Approximately 26.000 livestock were lost.[1] The floods provoked substantial displacement, exacerbated by ongoing attacks by Boko Haram, as well as increasing competition over agricultural land.[17]

As of the end of September 2019, no cases of cholera had been reported, whereas floods in 2014 had affected more than 1,400 people.[17]

Response

Prior to the flood, much of the international humanitarian aid in Niger was concentrated in the Diffa region, due to the high number of Nigerian refugees.[18] Groups like Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF joined the local and federal government response to the floods, primarily in the most-affected states of Maradi, Tahoua, Agadez, and Zinder.[19]

Initial responses focused on limiting the spread of infectious and communicable diseases such as malaria and diarrhea, and providing mental support.[20]

UNICEF was the sole provider of ready-to-use therapeutic foods in the country,[21] distributed water treatment tablets to some regions, and helped rehabilitate wells affected by floods.[22] The agency also supported the Niger government’s response by providing non-food item kits, which were distributed by government authorities under coordination of the UN’s Coordinating Committee on Health.[23]

Doctors Without Borders put mobile clinics out into the field where they could promote hygiene practices, monitor outbreaks of disease and distribute non-food items like blankets, mosquito nets, hygiene supplies, and domestic utensils. They also helped dig basic latrines as a stopgap measure for people sheltering in community schools.[24]

Local government distributed food rations and cooking oil as well as money (2,000 Central African Francs).[20]

After years of repeated flooding, in 2012, the Niger government, with support from the World Bank, launched the PGCR-DU (Projet de Gestion des Risques de Catastrophes et de Développement Urbain). By 2016, the PGRC-DU has begun retrofitting numerous protective dikes and developing tools to better predict areas most susceptible to flooding and weigh various flood mitigation measures in those areas.[25]

References
  1. "Niger floods leave 32 dead, 92,000 homeless". eNCA. 2016-09-08. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  2. Davies, Richard (2016-08-12). "West Africa – Deadly Floods in Mali and Burkina Faso". Floodlist. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  3. "Extreme flooding predicted in Mali's Inner Niger Delta". Wetlands International. 2016-09-07. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  4. "38 Killed, 92,000 Homeless As Flood Ravages Niger | NigerianNation Newspapers". 2016-09-18. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  5. Aich, Valentin; Liersch, Stefan; Vetter, Tobias; Fournet, Samuel; Andersson, Jafet C.M.; Calmanti, Sandro; van Weert, Frank H.A.; Hattermann, Fred F.; Paton, Eva N. (2016-08-15). "Flood projections within the Niger River Basin under future land use and climate change". Science of the Total Environment. 562: 666–677. Bibcode:2016ScTEn.562..666A. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.021. ISSN 0048-9697. PMID 27110979.
  6. Loveline, Enwere Chidimma (2015-08-24). "Impacts of Wetland Degradation in Niger Delta Nigeria and its Significance in Flood Control". International Journal of Environment. 4 (3): 177–184. doi:10.3126/ije.v4i3.13244. ISSN 2091-2854.
  7. Descroix, L.; Mahé, G.; Lebel, T.; Favreau, G.; Galle, S.; Gautier, E.; Olivry, J-C.; Albergel, J.; Amogu, O.; Cappelaere, B.; Dessouassi, R. (2009-08-30). "Spatio-temporal variability of hydrological regimes around the boundaries between Sahelian and Sudanian areas of West Africa: A synthesis". Journal of Hydrology. 375 (1–2): 90–102. Bibcode:2009JHyd..375...90D. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2008.12.012. ISSN 0022-1694.
  8. Roudier, P.; Ducharne, A.; Feyen, L. (2014-07-31). "Climate change impacts on runoff in West Africa: a review". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 18 (7): 2789–2801. Bibcode:2014HESS...18.2789R. doi:10.5194/hess-18-2789-2014. ISSN 1607-7938.
  9. Dan-Jumbo, Nimi Gibson, author. Assessing the effects of urban development and climate change on flooding in the Greater Port-Harcourt watershed, Niger Delta, Nigeria. OCLC 1063477461.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. "West Africa:Impact of the floods" (PDF). Humanitarian Response. 2016-08-22. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  11. Maidment, R. I., D. Grimes, E. Black, E. Tarnavsky, M. Young, H. Greatrex, R. P. Allan et al. (2017) A new, long-term daily satellite-based rainfall dataset for operational monitoring in Africa. Nature Scientific Data 4: 170063 DOI:10.1038/sdata.2017.63.
  12. Tarnavsky, E., Grimes, D., Maidment, R., Black, E., Allan, R., Stringer, M., Chadwick, R. and Kayitakire, F., (2014). Extension of the TAMSAT Satellite-based Rainfall Monitoring over Africa and from 1983 to present. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 53(12): 2805-2822. DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-14-0016.1.
  13. Maidment, R., Grimes, D., Allan, R., Tarnavsky, E., Stringer, M., Hewison, T., Roebeling, R., and Black, E. (2014). The 30-year TAMSAT African Rainfall Climatology and Time-series (TARCAT) Data Set. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 119:10,619-10,644. DOI: 10.1002/2014JD021927.
  14. team, Reality Check (2018-09-27). "Reality Check: Why does Nigeria keep flooding?". Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  15. Fiorillo, Edoardo; Crisci, Alfonso; Issa, Hassimou; Maracchi, Giampiero; Morabito, Marco; Tarchiani, Vieri (2018-07-03). "Recent Changes of Floods and Related Impacts in Niger Based on the ANADIA Niger Flood Database". Climate. 6 (3): 59. doi:10.3390/cli6030059. ISSN 2225-1154.
  16. "Lester, Maya Elizabeth Jane, (born 22 Aug. 1974), QC 2016", Who's Who, Oxford University Press, 2016-12-01, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u286684
  17. "NIGER Humanitarian Situation Report. September 2016" (PDF). 2016. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  18. "UNICEF Niger Humanitarian Situation Report, October 2016". ReliefWeb.
  19. "OCHA Bulletin humanitaire Niger Août 2016". ReliefWeb.
  20. "Niger: Floods leave hundreds of families homeless with increased risk of disease". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  21. "UNICEF Annual Report 2016: Niger (the Republic of)" (PDF).
  22. "UNICEF Niger Humanitarian Situation Report August 2016". ReliefWeb.
  23. "UNICEF Niger Humanitarian Situation Report July 2016". ReliefWeb.
  24. "Niger: Floods leave hundreds of families homeless with increased risk of disease". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  25. "Addressing Flood Vulnerability in Niamey, Niger, West Africa". OpenDRI. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
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