Since 24 September, life in Nouakchott has been dictated by the downpours. Heavy rains over the Mauritanian capital have turned many of its main roads into ponds. Getting to work, going shopping or simply getting home has become an obstacle course.
Several neighbourhoods have been hit particularly hard: Sebkha, El Mina, Cité Plage and Nektekh, along with the city centre around the Marché Capitale and the BMD junction. On these roads, the tarmac has vanished under the water. Many taxi drivers now refuse to go out for fear of flooding their engines. That leaves many residents no choice but to walk several kilometres, often through standing water. « We’re struggling to get around, » says a vegetable seller whose trade has taken a direct hit.
The authorities reacted within hours. Since 24 September, the National Sanitation Office (ONAS) has deployed dozens of tanker trucks and high-capacity motor pumps. Its crews are working day and night in the moughataas of Tevragh-Zeina, Ksar, Sebkha, El Mina and Teyarett. A department head explains that main roads, junctions and the areas around hospitals come first, and only then secondary streets and residential areas.
In the outlying neighbourhoods, those priorities are not going down well. The water is still sitting there, and residents feel the tanker trucks are serving wealthier districts first. Standing water that does not evaporate is already drawing mosquitoes, which is a worrying sign for public health.
Everyone knows what lies at the root of the problem. Outside a few areas, Nouakchott has no real stormwater drainage network. The city sits on flat, low-lying ground close to the ocean, with a water table just below the surface. As a result, the water has almost nowhere to go. Every rainy season, the same scenes come back. « We’re asking for them to finally put in drains, » says one resident, summing up the general weariness.
A longer-term solution is under construction. Once finished, the « Pôle A » sewerage network project is meant to put an end to these build-ups of water and lower the water table. Until then, residents have little choice but to wait for the pumps to arrive or for the sun to do its work.
These floods come as UN agencies raise the alarm about El Niño, whose effects are expected in Africa over the coming months. They highlight a long-standing emergency: a capital of more than a million people cannot keep dealing with its rains one day at a time.