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GENEVA —The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says that millions of people are suffering from devastating flooding across West and Central Africa, a region long mired in conflict, instability and destitution.
UNHCR said more than two months of heavy flooding, some of the worst in a decade, has displaced more than 3.4 million people in Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cameroon.
The U.N. agency said northeast Nigerian flooding has affected nearly 3 million people, killed hundreds, and displaced over 1.3 million. The floodwaters, it said, have swept through areas sheltering more than 2 million people who have fled fighting by Boko Haram militants in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.
UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado said Chad declared a state of emergency after floods affected more than 1 million people there. She said rivers have overflowed their banks, submerging fields, killing livestock, and forcing more than 90,000 people to flee their homes.
"In the countries of Central Sahel - Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali - above average rains and flooding have killed hundreds, displaced thousands, and decimated over 1 million hectares of cropland," she said. "Worsening climate shocks in the Sahel in particular, have fueled drought and flooding, lowered crop yields and contributed to a general deterioration in public services for one of the world's worst displacement crises."
The UNHCR said armed groups spreading terror and fear in the region, as well as poverty and inequality, have led nearly 5 million people in the Sahel to flee their homes. Nearly 3 million of those, it said, remain inside their countries, while the others have fled to neighboring countries.
The agency said the climate crisis is destroying livelihoods, disrupting food security, aggravating conflicts over scarce resources, and driving more people from their homes.
Sarrado called for more support for those on the front lines of the climate crisis to help them deal with the consequences.