UN reports Chad floods have killed 503, affecting 1.7m people

Severe flooding in Chad since July has claimed 503 lives and affected around 1.7 million since July, the United Nations said Saturday in its latest assessment of the disaster.

The floods have also destroyed 212,111 houses, flooded 357,832 hectares (885,000 acres) of fields and drowned 69,659 heads of cattle, said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Chad.

All of the country's provinces had been hit, Chad's water and energy minister Marcelin Kanabe Passale told journalists Saturday morning, warning of more trouble to come.

"The waters of the Logone and Chari rivers have reached a critical height likely to cause obvious serious flooding in the coming days," Passale said.

N'Djamena, Chad's capital, is located where the Logone and Chari rivers flow into each other.

Passale recommended that all water from private wells be treated with chlorine before consumption.

A flood-monitoring committee had been set up to "assess the risks associated with the pollution of drinking water supplies and rising river levels", he added.

The UN had already warned in early September of the impact of "torrential rains and severe flooding" in the wider region, particularly in Chad, calling for immediate action and funding to tackle climate change.

This summer has been the hottest ever recorded globally with a slew of record temperatures, heatwaves, drought and severe flooding.