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Lake Chad flood leaves 25,000 homeless

    ABIDJAN

    Rising waters in Lake Chad following the heaviest rains in central Africa for at least 30 years have left an estimated 25,000 people homeless in northern Nigeria, Reuters reported, quoting a local official on Monday.

    Borno State's housing and environment commissioner, Ahmed Asheme, told reporters he had asked the federal government for help to care for the victims now lodging in schools, mosques, churches and other public buildings.

    Lake Chad, which has been receding over the last decade in an area prone to cycles of drought, lies on the Sahel side of the Sahara Desert and is fed by rivers in tropical central Africa.

    Communities around the lake engage in fishing, farming and, Reuters said, smuggling in a region of porous borders of between Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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