The torrential rains that have hit Ivory Coast in recent days have left 19 people dead and five injured, according to a statement by the National Security Council, chaired by Head of State Alassane Ouattara on Thursday.
June-July is the rainy season in Elephant Country, with heavy rainfall for several hours at a time. On 16 and 22 June, torrents of rain fell overnight on Abidjan, making several major roads impassable and causing deadly landslides.
According to the official report made public at the end of a national security council on Thursday 7 July, there were “19 deaths, 5 injuries as well as floods and a lot of material damage in several districts of Greater Abidjan”. Also, the text stresses, “151 people were taken to safety and 13 evacuated”.
In front of this tragedy, the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, noted that Ivory Coast, like many countries in the world, is also exposed to the harmful effects of climate change. This is why he “strongly urged the population to liberate the areas at risk”, insists the communiqué. In addition, Alassane Ouattara instructed the minister in charge of security to “strengthen the early warning system, with a view to pre-positioning assistance in the vicinity of risk areas”.
Moreover, every year it is the same scene and the public authorities find it difficult to anticipate. For more than ten years, the scene has been the same from June onwards in these neighbourhoods, where flooding has become a recurring problem. Fears of flooding have forced African football leaders to postpone the organisation of the 2023 CAN in the country. Initially scheduled to take place in June-July 2023, the CAN has been postponed to January-February 2024, a drier period.
