Floods leave Africans without money for food, school

Reuters: …The United Nations estimates 800,000 people in 13 countries across West Africa alone have been affected by flooding, with Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali the hardest hit. Conservative estimates put the number killed across Africa at some 200.

In the worst affected areas, relief agencies have battled to provide emergency food rations, safe drinking water and mosquito nets. But even in places where the immediate risk is lower, the long term impact of crop failures will take a heavy toll on poor communities long after the waters have receded.

"The effects of floods combined with those of the severe drought which occurred in June/July have exacerbated the difficult living conditions of vulnerable families," U.N. humanitarian organisation OCHA said in its latest update. "Market prices have doubled for most commodities. Lack of safe drinking water remains another major concern," it said of the situation in Ghana.

…The destruction of food crops and the flooding of roads have meant what produce does make it to market is often selling at a premium beyond the reach of many, particularly those who rely on cash crops like cotton for their income.

Mali and Togo have both slashed their forecasts for cotton production in recent days, putting additional strain on a sector which employs an estimated 15 million people in West Africa and which is struggling against tumbling world prices and market-distorting subsidies paid to U.S. farmers…