In West and Central Africa, over 1,000 people have died so far this year due to flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee.
Entire buildings have collapsed under the water masses. In Nigeria, hundreds of prisoners recently escaped from a prison where walls were swept away.
Dead crocodiles and snakes are floating among human bodies where there used to be streets, according to eyewitness accounts from the Nigerian city of Maiduguri in the state of Borno.
Rescue efforts are underway in several places, making it impossible to determine with certainty how many have died. The disaster has worsened the humanitarian crisis in the countries most affected. So far, at least 230 people have been reported dead in Nigeria, 265 in Niger, 487 in Chad, and 55 in Mali.
