Thousands displaced after heavy flooding in Burkina Faso

September 4, 2009

According to the United Nations' humanitarian agency, severe flooding in Burkina Faso has affected over 100,000 people, following the country's heaviest rainfall for ninety years.

Thousands of homes in the vicinity of Ouagadougou, the country's capital, have been destroyed by the waters. Officials requested international aid for those affected by the disaster.

"I would like to join the government's appeal for blankets, clothes and food, because there really is an urgent need for these things," Ouagadougou's mayor Simon Compaore said.

The Belgian Red Cross' Rosine Jourdain said that "bridges and dams have been destroyed, the main hospital in Ouagadougou which is close to a dam was inundated and some patients including about 60 children were evacuated. An electrical plant was also destroyed, so I think we are going to have some power supply problems."

Flooding has also affected the neighbouring countries of Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, and Senegal.

The UN says it is worried that water-borne illnesses, such as cholera and malaria, could start spreading due to the flooding.