Chad declares state of emergency after worst flooding in three decades

Chad introduced a state of emergency after flooding that’s displaced more than 1 million people and destroyed thousands of hectares of cropland.

Higher than normal rainfall in recent months resulted in the worst floods in 30 years, Interim President Mahamat Deby said on state television late Wednesday.

"We must act to save lives and restore the livelihoods of affected people in order to prevent water-borne and vector-borne diseases and prevent these vulnerable communities from sinking further into food insecurity and malnutrition,” Deby said. "Tens of thousands of people have had to leave their homes, thousands of hectares of cultivated land have been decimated, in a region already in the grip of a food emergency.”

Chad is already facing a looming food crisis affecting more than 2 million people, according to the World Food Programme. The state of emergency will be implemented nationwide to better tackle the humanitarian situation in the worst-hit areas in the south, including the capital, N’Djamena, Deby said.