Burkina Faso has declared a state of natural catastrophe after 13 people were killed in floods. “Torrential rains have caused a lot of damage in our country… as of today, we have recorded 13 dead, 19 injured, many houses destroyed and lots of people affected,” Culture Minister Abdoul Karim Sango said on TV late Wednesday.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, on Twitter, said the government had earmarked five billion CFA francs ($9 billion / 7.5 million euros) for the emergency.
He added that he had also authorized the ministry for territorial administration to requisition public buildings to help people who had fled their homes.
Burkina Faso, located in the heart of the Sahel on the Sahara’s southern rim, is one of the world’s poorest countries.
Forty percent of its 20 million people live below the threshold of poverty.
Pounding rain began to fall in mid-August, flooding parts of the capital, Ouagadougou, where drainage systems were overwhelmed.
In neighboring Niger, 65 people have died and nearly 333,000 people have been affected, while around 100 have died in Sudan to the east, and six in Senegal to the west.
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