Flood relief efforts continue in Liberia

UN Integrated Regional Information Network: Hundreds of residents along Monrovia's coast have lost, or are still blocked from their homes nearly two months after storms started on 20 July 2008, according to relief workers. The Liberian Red Cross Society estimates flooding has affected about 1,400 people.

Red Cross relief worker Pappie Toe, said efforts are still underway to assist flood victims who have been sheltering with family and friends. "We give them food as well as medicine. And another package is given to families [whose] conditions are more critical."

…The Red Cross' director of health and disaster management, Kokpar Wohwoh, said the most damaged communities are coastal areas on the outskirts of Monrovia, including Banjor, Popo Beach, Hotel Africa and King Gray. "We are still monitoring these communities to make sure they are safe for living."

Government officials say these coastal communities are at higher risk for flooding and water damage because rising sea waters along the Gulf of Guinea, which are linked to climate change, have pushed the ocean dangerously close to seaside homes.

Map of Liberia from the CIA World Factbook, Wikimedia Commons