Dakar Flood Leaves Thousands Homeless

Thousands of people have been rendered homeless after a storm brought down nearly a year’s worth of rainfall in a single day and turning roads into rivers in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

The Orsec plan, Disaster Relief Plan (Orsec) has officially been launched in Senegal to deal with the floods that are affecting certain areas in the suburbs of Dakar and inland.

The Interior Minister, Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome visited the areas affected by heavy rainfalls. He announced the deployment of a first batch of equipment to help clear the water in the most affected areas which consisted dispatching about fifty water cleaning trucks to the field as well as 150 motor pumps.

He also confirmed that “The floods of Dakar, Senegal are a yearly occurrence. Last September, homes were ravaged, livestock swept away by the waters. The rains were exceptional. But people criticize the management of these floods, which recur every rainy season.”

Likewise last year, the Minister of the Interior promised pumping equipment, before reflecting on permanent solutions after the last winter.

A ten-year flood management plan was launched in 2012, with a budget of approximately 750 billion CFA francs (more than one billion euros). Many however demands accountability as the situation still proves unresolved.