DAKAR (AlertNet) - About 40,000 people driven from their homes by flash floods in the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto still need urgent assistance, medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says.
Most of them sought refuge in bushes, schools and temporary shelters made of straw and sticks when a dam at Goronyo on the River Rima burst earlier this month after heavy rainfall.
The local authorities have been distributing food while MSF has been providing clean water, soap, blankets and mosquito nets and referring cases of mostly malaria to its health clinic in Goronyo town about 760 km (470 miles) from the capital Lagos.
However, access to most of the areas hit remains is difficult as the floods washed away roads and bridges.
"The only means of access is by crossing the river in small boats," said Gautam Chatterjee, the MSF head of mission in Sokoto.
The local government authorities promised to provide these boats but were constrained by budget.
In addition to losing their homes many families have seen their crops wiped out and their granaries destroyed. MSF says in a place where most people depend on subsistence agriculture, this is a complete loss of livelihood.
"We are seeing that crops which would have been ready for harvest in October have been destroyed and the consequence could be food shortages in the coming months," Chatterjee told AlertNet on the telephone from Sokoto.
Heavy seasonal rainfall has caused floods across west and central Africa disrupting the lives of over 717,000 people and killing about 219, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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