8 September 2009: The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that the number of victims affected by the floods across West Africa has now increased to 600,000.

OCHA noted that climate change has a role in driving natural disasters, such as the torrential rainfall in the region that is taking a heavy tool in human lives.
The heavy rains, which started in late June, have already ruined crops and infrastructure across Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. The World Food Programme (WFP) has been providing food assistance, including delivery of rations of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and corn-soya blend to over 153,000 affected people. [UN News Centre ]