Floods render 200 people homeless in Maga

The people of Mourla and other surrounding villages, located in Pouss (Maga District), have had less sleep since September 25, 2015.

The L’œil du Sahel newspaper’s Monday, September 28, 2015 edition, citing local sources reported that "the rain which caused flood on Friday, September 25 destroyed more than 45 houses, rendering nearly 200 people homeless.”

The heavy rain that fell in their localities, causing the overflow of the Logone River from their beds has caused great loss. According to the newspaper, the most affected villages are Nihiria, Gozom, Gobo, and Bari. An inhabitant explained “the water overflowed the dike along the Logone River over a distance of more than ten kilometers. Due to its wear out, this section of the dam has become very low. When there are heavy rains that are expected to flow to Chad, the water ends up in the dike because at this side of Chad, a solid road dike was built.”

“These floods are the consequence of the negligence of the administrative authorities and SEMRY. This part of the dam, which is now under water, was never rehabilitated by SEMRY since its construction in 1978. It is a pity that,” fumed the same resident.

In their fury, the floods also swept away large quantities of food, livestock and destroyed several rice plantations. The sous-prefect of Maga, Abdoulaye Oumarou contacted on the phone by the newspaper confirmed that he “ordered the people to leave those places to avoid the worst”.

The prefect of the Department of Mayo-Danay, Simon Kwenti Doh has meanwhile "brought comfort to affected populations.” He set up a crisis Committee "responsible for identifying the victims and to assist some of the inhabitants living in areas at risk.”

Pending effective measures, the municipality offered more than 2,000 empty bags and the sous-prefecture presented 15 empty bags. “The people massively began to work to fill the empty bags with sand so as to control the water,” noted the journal.