Torrential rains have caused 340,000 people to lose property or flee their homes in Chad in almost two months since late June, the United Nations said Wednesday.

"Recent rainfall has affected more than 341,000 people in 11 of the 23 provinces of Chad," the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.

This meant they had to "abandon their homes" or "lost possessions", the OCHA office in Chad told AFP.

Last week, OCHA said torrential rains had killed 22 people in Chad since June.

The capital N'Djamena, which is located near the Chari river, has been the most badly affected by the downpours.

Several neighbourhoods were flooded earlier this month after torrential rain hammered the city for more than a week.

Last year, 256,000 people suffered damage during floods, while up to 388,000 people were affected in 2020, the agency said.

Some 5.5 million Chadians -- around a third of the landlocked central African country's population -- needed "urgent humanitarian assistance" last year, according to the United Nations.

The situation has worsened because of the war in Ukraine, with challenges bringing Ukrainian grain to foreign markets.

Chad, which has seen numerous armed conflicts since independence from France in 1960, is the third least developed country in the world, the UN says.

Worsening flood costs could rival New Zealand's quakes: study
Nelson, New Zealand (AFP) Aug 24, 2022 - Increasingly severe floods driven by climate change could soon cost New Zealand as much as destructive earthquakes, a study warned Wednesday.

The country is still reeling from floods that hit its South Island last week.

Experts have warned that climate change could make flooding "as destructive to New Zealand as earthquakes", according to Wednesday's report.

The average annual cost of repairing homes damaged by river floods in New Zealand is set to rise after reaching $62 million, according to research firm CoreLogic and insurance provider Munich Re.

"New Zealand will see an increase in both the frequency and severity of weather events due to climate change," Munich Re Australia managing director Scott Hawkins said.

Annual building repair costs could increase by more than 20 percent by 2050, and 30 percent by 2100, according to the research.

Flooding has wreaked havoc in South Island communities in recent years, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warning that flood-prone areas are not ready to cope with the climate crisis.

New Zealand's largest insurer, IAG, has called for an end to building houses in flood-prone areas, saying 10 major floods over the last two years have led to total losses of around $248 million.

But that figure pales in comparion to the devastation caused by the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, which decimated the country's second-largest city of Christchurch and claimed 185 lives.

The earthquake triggered around $25 billion in property claims, according to insurance company Swiss Re, making it by far the country's most costly natural disaster.

On Monday, Ardern said the New Zealand government would put in place a national adaptation plan to better prepare the country for the effects of climate change.

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Flood toll tops 800 in Pakistan's 'catastrophe of epic scale'
Islamabad (AFP) Aug 24, 2022
Record monsoon rains were causing a "catastrophe of epic scale", Pakistan's climate change minister said Wednesday, announcing an international appeal for help in dealing with floods that have killed more than 800 people since June. The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction. Heavy rain continued to pound much of Pakistan Wednesday, with authorities reporting more than a d ... read more