By Xinhua
Nairobi : At least 1.5 million people across a swathe of sub-Saharan African countries are suffering from the effects of severe floods reported to be the worst in decades in some places.
The World Food Program (WFP) said in its operational update on Wednesday that the floods have extended in an arc from Mauritania in the West to Kenya in the East.
“WFP teams have fanned out across the region to distribute food to flood victims in several countries. WFP is working together with governments and other aid agencies to assess needs and respond swiftly, drawing on emergency stocks and bringing in helicopters and boats where necessary,” it said.
The latest reports said 250 people have died and hundreds of thousands of homes have been washed away on some of the continent’s most fertile land.
The UN food agency said funds, especially cash, are urgently needed for several agency’s operations, including in Uganda, where WFP needs a total of 65 million U.S. dollars to continue feeding 300,000 flood victims as well as refugees and displaced people for the next six months.
In East Africa, the brunt of the torrential rain was felt in Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan and hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes across southern Sudan.
WFP said heavy rains flooding lowland areas from August in western Kenya has reportedly displaced some 1,700 families.