HEAVY flooding in Niger over the past few weeks has killed up to 65 people and left 125,000 homeless.After appeals from the countrys president for international aid, the first supplies, donated by Ireland to Plan International, have arrived.The southern Dosso region has been worst affected, with over 10,000 homes destroyed according to the UN.The capital Niamey was also hit when the River Niger burst its banks, flooding the citys suburbs.Plan Internationals Niger director Rheal Drisdalle said on 18-19 August, the river reached levels not seen since the 1920s.As the river has not been this high for a very, very long time, people had built their houses near to the river - and then all the rice paddies along the river have been flooded, he told the BBC.At last count, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the floods have destroyed 14,000 homes and 7,000 fields of cereal crops across the country.BBC
