A Nasa satellite image shows the disastrous overflowing of the Ouémé River in 2010 World Bank Group’s International Development Association subsidiary is to loan $200m to the west African state of Benin for flood prevention, Afrik21 reports.

The financing, approved last week by the World Bank’s directors, will fall under the country’s Secondary Cities Stormwater Sanitation Programme, which will improve drainage in eight urban areas. This is itself part of the €424m Rainwater Sanitation Programme for Secondary Cities.

The programme is being implemented by the Beninese Ministry of Living Environment and Sustainable Development.

The country is prone to flooding from the Niger River and its tributaries. Last year, 38 communes out of 77 suffered from rising waters with at least nine flood-related deaths and dozens more due to water-related accidents.

Another flood in 2010 left almost 100,000 homeless and 43 dead when the Ouémé River inundated large areas of the south (see image).

The loan follows another for the same purpose from the European Investment Bank. It committed €140m in May 2021 for the implementation of drainage improvements in two cities, benefiting 800 000 people.