JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Torrential rains have hit a broad swath of West and Central Africa in the past few weeks. The resulting floods have displaced millions of people in areas that are already feeling the brunt of food insecurity and conflict. Jewell Bright has more from Nigeria.
JEWELL BRIGHT, BYLINE: A man shouts in panic and warns others as water from a broken dam bursts into the city of Maiduguri in Northern Nigeria.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
BRIGHT: In just a few hours, the water swept through the city, inundating homes and businesses, residents wading through streams that were once streets.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUSHING)
BRIGHT: Multiple moments captured on social media show a city underwater. Maiduguri is the latest city in West Africa to experience deadly floods after a heavier than usual rainy season. The rains have swept through Mali, Niger, Liberia, Chad and Cameroon. Aid groups say over 4 million people have been displaced across the region this year, a region that is already facing enormous humanitarian challenges.
MATHIAS GOEMAERE: The people are living out and about. They are exposed to the environment. A lot of waterborne diseases. You've got malaria. People are not able to sleep under mosquito nets.
BRIGHT: Mathias Goemaere is a field coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres in Maiduguri. Even before the floods hit, the community here was already buckling under the twin pressures of a regional conflict and poverty.
GOEMAERE: This was an ongoing nutritional crisis here. So a lot of people, because of malnutrition, are immuno-depressed (ph), which makes them more susceptible to diseases.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUSHING)
BRIGHT: Elsewhere in the city, floodwaters burst through the wall of a prison. Three hundred inmates escaped. Hospitals have been submerged, and the rising water swept through one of the city's main zoo, killing most of its animals and releasing a deadly few, including crocodiles and snakes.
PRESIDENT AHMED BOLA TINUBU: (Non-English language spoken).
BRIGHT: Nigeria's president, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, arrived in the city today to survey the damage. As he addressed the crowd, he offered his sympathies and promised support for the displaced, but not much more beyond that. More rains are forecast for the coming month. Without proper planning and support, many fear that, once again, the continent with the least greenhouse emissions will continue to bear the brunt of some of the most extreme weather events. For NPR News, Jewell Bright in Lagos, Nigeria.
(SOUNDBITE OF RIOPY'S "MEDITATION 22") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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