By George Fominyen Dakar, July 10 (Reuters) - Heavy flooding in Benin has killed seven people and disrupted the lives of at least 13,000 others, according to the Red Cross. The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) said the start of seasonal floods in West and Central Africa had also left 11,000 people homeless in the Central African Republic. "This is severe for the beginning of the season," the agency's disaster management coordinator for West and Central Africa, Youcef Ait Chellouche, told Reuters in the Senegalese capital Dakar late on Thursday. Benin declared a state of emergency because of floods for the first time on Monday and asked for international humanitarian help. Chellouche said rain was heavier than normal for July, even in a region where floods are common in the wet season. The worst rains usually come in August and September but already last month, seven people died in flooding that hit much of Ghana, officials said, and in the Ivory Coast at least 19 people were killed by mudslides and flooding. The IFRC said 2,000 buildings, including homes, schools and health centres, had been submerged in parts of Benin's capital Cotonou and elsewhere. West Africa has experienced heavy seasonal flooding in the past few years. About 200,000 people were displaced when their houses were destroyed in Benin last year. Chellouche said the Benin Red Cross would give blankets, clothes, soap and water purification tablets to up to 5,000 of the most needy people from Friday. He also said a week of torrential rains in the Central African Republic could cause serious problems there. "Lots of houses have been destroyed, people are outside in schools and all areas that can be occupied, and there is no local response capacity and even communication capacity," he said. The Niger-based African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD) had warned of a strong chance of abnormally high rainfall for July to September across the southern part of the Gulf of Guinea. This includes Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. (Edited by Richard Meares and Sophie Hares)
A photojournalist walks at the site of a mountain landslide in Khen Len village, in Vietnam's northern Bac Kan province, July 8, 2009. Vietnamese soldiers and police used sniffer dogs on ...
Floods
